In my view across the great political divide, I see signs for the other side all around the area where I live. They’ve grown exponentially with the election, but election season or not the current Republican candidates name is always there along with flags with his name on them. The signs also ask for prayers for the USA. They urge people to keep Texas Red. They cheer on Brandon. And they encourage folks to vote Republican to protect their freedom.

The latter is an odd sign to see since none of them are enslaved and as far as I can see they come and go as they please and worship at the churches of their choice. And they’re definitely free to speak their minds and they do it a lot in private and in public. So, I have a hard time knowing why they feel their freedom is under attack. I suppose common sense gun laws might feel threatening, but no one is planning on gathering up their guns or gathering them up as a group to send them packing. At least as far as I know.

Of course, laws in general restrict freedom, so maybe that’s it. But they feel free to ignore speed limits, so I imagine other laws are ignored as well. I suspect the freedom they want to protect is the ability to do as they please. But I can’t see how that works in a civil society. In the end, all I know is this, it seems the freedom they’re protecting, no matter how they define it, is not a freedom that extends to others, and I can see this by the laws they pass and rules they create when they’re in power that target immigrants, minorities, trans people, gays, and women.