RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
As the political arena continues to provide us with regular entertainment, there is increasing talk about the matters of our American rights and responsibilities both at home and abroad. And, the wide gulf that exists between those who would have some form of Imperial Presidency - or oligarchic leadership - in control, for the remainder of the new Century, and those who still have some concept of the principles of a Government of the people, by the people and for the people is slowly beginning to emerge from the otherwise windy flatulence of debate and rhetoric.
Thus, we are gradually getting down to the crux of the matter: Who selects the "rights"; and who imposes the "responsibilities"?
Which can be summed up rather succinctly. The Right-wing/Reactionary/Racist/Crypto-Theocratic/Republican-Party position is: If WE - or someone of our claque of cult followers - don't like, or approve of, a Right - or find fault with something that might be considered to be contained within it - then WE define the limitation of that Right, according to OUR "religious", "moral", or other "superior" opinion of what the Right "ought to be". And, concurrently, WE also criminalize - or otherwise impose sanctions upon - anything WE find objectionable; thereby forcing everyone else to follow OUR opinions of what their "responsibilities" ought to be.
In short: For Republicans, Government should be always in everyone's bedroom, and in every other aspect of private life; view and censor everyone's speech, writing, and communication in any form; and always be otherwise conducted according to the most regressive, repressive, and reactionary forms of whatever superstitions and mythological fantasies are the most prevalent of the day.
On the other hand, those of us who believe that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights have already fixed the absolutes concerning Rights; and that responsibilities under those Rights are a part of the personal - rather than governmental - area of life, view the matter quite differently. And we hold that the fundamentals of Constitutional government are in absolutely diametric opposition to the positions espoused by the Right-wing/Reactionary/Racist.Crypto-Theocratic/Republican-Party. And further, we hold that the Founding Fathers of our great Nation expressly stated their own total opposition to the position and premises of that group, vociferously, strongly, and repeatedly as well.
That's the long and short of it, right there.