Having it both ways

I have noticed a very disturbing tendency in many discussions around guns and the people arguing both for and against them- inconsistency. The same people who are vocal about restrictive gun laws are equally vocal about civil restrictions on people's personal lives. This internal disconnect makes me question their true dedication to either cause. One day, any given group may be strident about the injustices levvied on the populace by the FBI, then turn around the next and tell us, with a straight face, that I should trust exclusively in the police to protect me from harm. Others will look me in the eye and say that we have our god-given rights as Americans, then categorically dismiss huge swaths of the population for trying to obtain those same rights. State issued ID cards for voting are somehow racist, but government should screen us before allowing us near a firearm. Freedom of speech is sacrosanct, but censorship of dissent is a worthy cause.

You can't have it both ways. Either we are a free people, capable of making our own decisions, or we are serfs, servants who need cared for. You don't get to pick and choose which cause de jure warrants your internal belief system- all that indicates is that you are not possessed of one.

People on the right, you need to look at your views on freedom and decide whether we deserve ours, or if we should be gathered up and sent back to the lands of our ancestors. People on the left, you need to look at your views on the government and decide if its a benevolent force, saving us from ourselves or a juggernaut which needs to be kept in check by personal liberties. This mix and match shit has to go.

I don't have room in my life for hypocrisy.

Look at your beliefs, and find the inconsistencies. Look at the actions and beliefs of your politicians, of your associates, and find the inconsistencies. Challenge those inconsistencies, root them out, and then maybe we can have a meaningful discussion.