What Are We Entitled To?

My friend and co-author, Brandon Alt, sent an e-mail last week asking that question. It went out to a large group of his friends, and I wish I had saved my answer, but I didn't. In my mind, the only thing God gave us was life, and the opportunity to do something with that gift. We have a country which was founded by people who believed that God granted us the right to choose for ourselves, to be free to choose for ourselves. We have a country preserved by the blood of people who agreed with them. And today we have a country where a small group of people are trying to force on the rest of us their idea of a government. That government does not allow us to choose for ourselves, does not even trust us to choose for ourselves.

In the same week, someone pointed out to me that if people made their own choices, without the government forcing things, that women would not be equal citizens, that civil rights would not have worked, and that other groups, such as the disabled, would be under-employed (whatever that means). I disagree entirely! All of those things came about, not because the government forced them, but because people stood up for themselves.

The government didn't *give* women the vote, they took it. The government didn't *give* the black people, the Indians and others, civil rights, they took them. The government didn't *give* jobs to the blacks, the disabled, and other minorities, or *give* equal pay to women for equal work. They took it. They stood up for themselves, and *then* the government passed amendments to the Constitution or laws which changed the way business was done.

I don't believe government had to pass the laws, because I believe the people standing up for themselves were changing things already. Making amendments to the Constitution - that's a fine way to change our government. It's the way the Constitution is designed to work. Passing laws on top of laws, none of which really changes society or the attitudes of society, is not the most efficient way to work. You can *force* people to do something, but you can't force them to change their attitudes and opinions, and true reform requires a change of attitude and opinion. That is not the same thing as being politically correct.

So, what do you think you are entitled to? For one side of the argument, the side with which I totally agree, see Brandon's Feb. 28 post.