Dear Editor:
FREEDOM was the sole word on a nearby church marquee. I asked a friend about a politician’s platform and she said it was “freedom.” Our declaration speaks of “equality” and the right to pursue happiness, and our Bill of Rights lists freedoms like they’re our birthrights; our God-given rights including how we worship if we do.
Government may act to protect our freedoms, but, if it does, how does it decide when protecting ours is denying others’? Shoot all the ducks you want. Your grandson won’t have any. Raise all the livestock you want in a confined space. Your neighbors’ air and water will be fouled and the ducks may die along with the fish and your right to swim. If you’re contagious or may be, don’t worry about others, but go about freely.
So, we need lifeguards and must decide what science or ideas are valid to protect our most basic right: to life. Keep using fossil fuels and toxins which the courts may decide have not been proven ill beyond a shadow of a doubt and all life here could vanish. Would you let a child inhale or drink something you suspected was poison? Do we support his right to choose it in case it’s harmless?
Oh, we have a lot to get right and a lot of greedy, unthinking guys to put aside so we can have a shot at life, and the responsible freedoms that make it good.
Ann Boylston-Violi,
Harborton
