I have now cleared out all the clutter and simplified my entire world, whittled it down to it's very essence. Ha! Not true in a material sense at all, but I mean as to the nature of our contemporary world problems and various conflicts.
It seems as if there are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe people are autonomous creatures with the right to make their own choices and those who believe people are incapable of making their own choices and must be controlled and told what to do.
It should come as no surprise that I belong to the you-always-have-a-choice crowd. Sometimes the options are not a lot of fun like, you can't work here if you don't inject experimental substances into your arm. That does not mean you have no choice, that means you might have to go get another job. It's hugely unfair and unjust, but you do have a choice. Always.
I am absolutely appalled about the banana republic behavior of some who are trying to remove Trump from state ballots. That is the same situation, some arrogant twitlet believes they have the right to take choices away from other people so as to control them and force the outcome. That is unacceptable. Our right to make our own decisions is a God given right, not one granted by the government.
When you interfere with someone else's choices, it is generally a criminal act. You are committing a crime. Obviously there are a few exceptions, children are deemed incompetent and not always capable of making their own choices. Sometimes elders must be cared for. Sometimes criminals must be restricted for the common good. For the most part however, people's right to make their own decisions is a sovereign right, perhaps even a Divine one.
Needless to say, stuff happens. Asteroids might land on your head or whatever. Things happen that are way beyond our control. Just the same we always have a choice about how we respond to things. Always.
People's Divine right to govern themselves trumps all our fears. It trumps all our potential offense. It trumps our delicate sensibilities. It's not fair, it's not comfortable, and it creates some degree of risk for the rest of us.
The worst part about this whole issue is all the brainwashing, the self inflicted psychological abuse. People who don't realize they have a choice, will have no choice. They will be unable to recognize their right to govern their own lives. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. "I have to go to work, I don't have a choice," is just a casual saying, but it reflects and affirms this notion that we haven't got any choice, that we have no sovereignty and therefore no control over our own lives.
Not having a choice is easier emotionally and it helps us to evade taking any responsibility. It is actually incredibly challenging to try to change your language and change your whole perspective. When one says, "I chose to do this thing," one must supply oneself with some reasons or justifications. "Why" am I choosing to do this thing? One might have very good reasons or one might simply be taking the path of least resistance, conforming for the sake of conforming, and wallowing in a sense of powerlessness, which also gives us the illusion of avoiding any accountability.
People often mistake me for being political, which is really only partially true. I do follow politics, I do have opinions, however this rule about people's sovereign right to make their own choices cuts across partisan divides, even religious divides. I have multiple posts about assorted evangelicals, so called Christian conservatives, and various right leaning individuals who are wrong six ways past Sunday based on that one single principle, they believe they have the right to take away other people's choices. They want to control things, ban things, and create a structured and enforced order, just with them as the boss.
Oh, heck no. My version of Christian nationalism is all about freedom. "He came to set the captives free" and "Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed."
Anyway, recently it seems as if I have bumped into a whole lot of people who don't really seem to believe in choices, who don't really believe in people's individual autonomy. I'm just going to stomp my foot here and insist that as long as you believe you have a choice, you will have a choice. It may not be a lot of fun, it may not be ideal, but you always, always have a choice and absolutely nobody has the right to tell you what to do or try to control you. Even when you don't have a physical or a material choice, you have a choice about how you respond. Always.
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