Thank you, Ben, for making me realize this

In the comments to this post, Ben provides us, perhaps inadvertently, with a great lesson. The one thing I've learned from this Berkeley-City-Council-Marine-Recruiting-Station Mess is that when people say "freedom", what they mean most often is, "You are free to believe whatever you like, as long as it does not conflict with what I believe. If your beliefs conflict with mine, I will ridicule you using whatever basis I can." Both sides do this in the video Ben linked to.

What's wrong with peace and believing we can have it? Is peace (and safety) not why people prefer to live in the suburbs? Or the nice parts of town? What is so terrible about "hippies"? And women kissing other women? Is that not why "Wild Things" was such a popular movie? Is that not what straight men fantasize about having in their own bed?

This definition of freedom is what got us into so many wars in the first place. We don't think that other types of government allow people the "freedom" we enjoy. That "freedom" includes things like:

• Only relatively wealthy people can get into college, and afford to pay for it.
• Roads and bridges are literally falling apart.
• People can't go to the doctor when they're sick.
• We have to fight our own government to protect our environment.
  
• Women are losing their right to control their own bodies, but the adoption system is a total mess. Single, teenage mothers are ostracized and given little support, and abstinence education is all that most states have to offer. Oh yeah, and something like 25% to 40% of teenage girls have STIs? Wow.
  

People don't want to pay taxes. Hello, taxes (for the most part) are not money that goes into a black hole, never to be seen again. You pay Medicare tax so old people can go to the doctor! You pay social security taxes so old people are not destitute! If it were your parents or grandparents who depended on that money, wouldn't you be happy to pay for it? And you wouldn't believe how efficient Medicare is. A HELL of a lot more efficient than private insurers. Something like 1.5% of Medicare taxes go to administration. The other 98.5% pays for actual health care. Find me a private insurer who can do that.

Of course, right now, our need to fight this war means we can't pay for the things we actually need.

At the same time, I don't want to pay taxes, either, and especially not for this mess we've created for no real reason. Right now, I pay a total of $1,800 a month in taxes. That might not turn out to be enough, either. You think I don't look at that "Fed Withholding" line and wonder where the hell that money is going? And WHAT is the state of California doing with my money? It's something like $16 billion in the hole.

I know that getting rid of weapons is not going to end conflict. And I recognize that we need a military so we can protect ourselves. It just seems so sad that what we really need protection from sometimes is ourselves.