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Monday, July 21, 2014

Freedom of choice!

By Floyd Bayne

IchooseyoupayFreedom of choice! We hear it all the time from various segments of our society. I like it. It makes sense. We are supposed to live in a free country, a constitutional republic, so you should have the freedom to choose a lot of different things in your life.

However, it seems to me that all too often many people who espouse this "freedom of choice" only mean it when it applies to them and something they like/want. They forget that there are other people who may not share their views and their idea(s) of what is and is not a good choice. They forget that in many cases a demand to have a choice that you like for yourself implies that someone else has to, MUST, provide that choice for you. Let's take the notion, as many seem to believe, that you have a "right" to a job. That would then mean that any and EVERY employer has the obligation to provide you with that job, any job, any job that you want at that moment. They have to, because it is your "right!"

Is it really? We also hear that you have a right to a house. Everyone should have a house of their own, because some people do everyone must. If you have a "right" to a house then who has the obligation of providing that house for you? At what cost? Who pays for it? The same is said for healthcare. You have a "right" to health care. You have a "right" to birth control. OK, then that implies that someone must provide it. Who? How? Why? At what costs and who pays for it? What if business owners said "To hell with this" and just closed shop? What if the people who build homes decided they were not going to comply? What if doctors decided they were not going to treat people anymore? Should they be forced to? Should they go to jail if they don't?

When people start hollering about rights and "freedom of choice" they would do well to remember that their choices and their freedoms are not the only ones to be considered. They might also want to look into what is actually a "right" and what is not. Just my not so humble opinion. (Am I being opinionated again?)