What is your personal 'line in the sand'

[tjnite]

Jurt curious. What is your personal 'line in the sand' when it comes to elected or appointed officials telling you what YOU can and cant do in regards to your personal affairs: home, family, hobbies, etc.
What would you make you passionatly say 'oh hell no thats too far'?
I hope its not too vague of a question.

[el_bryanto]

1. No it's not that vague I don't think

I personally am willing to put up with anything up to and including a Maoist death camp because I'm a fuzzy headed liberal who believes that the Government always knows best. So really there is no line in the sand for me. I hope somewhere along the way they give us all those Star Trek jumpsuits - those looked pretty comfy.

Bryant

[MichaelSoE]

20. Star Trek jumpsuit ???

Just don't get a red one. In the Star Trek universe, the Red Shirt is the phase-cannon fodder.

[el_bryanto]

25. I'm hoping for a nice shiny teal one myself.

[slackmaster]

2. The Metric System

[Sheldon Cooper]

3. The rights of women for autonomy over their bodies, and

the rights of GLBT to, basically, everything that everyone else has. Now, I live in PA and we've sent both Rick Santorum and Pat Toomey to the Senate. Sometimes I've had to grit my teeth and vote for people who are not ideal to me, and I've voted for Dems who are far too conservative for my taste. But I would abstain from voting for a Dem who is vehemently anti-choice and/or anti-GLBT equality. I'd even vote for a Republican if they were in favor of these issues and the Democrat was not - unlikely scenario, I know, but you did ask where the line was and for me, that's the line.

[ismnotwasm]

24. +1

[libtodeath]

4. Good,effective,progressive and beneficial to society government is not a zero sum

all or nothing.
I suspect you are hoping for someone to say that they dont want the government in their bedrooms so you can say hah,but you want them to tell you you cant own a gun or some other nonsense.

It just doesnt work that way and that is why we need to elect progressive people that can use sense rather then typical rw black or white.

Government for the people and by the people should be for the overall benefit of the people.

[rug]

5. War.

The war mentality filters throughout society and it starts at the top.

[limpyhobbler]

6. Making it illegal to unlock my cell phone.

[JayhawkSD]

7. Let me reply by asking another question.

What is the government, any government presently "telling you what YOU can and cant do in regards to your personal affairs: home, family, hobbies, etc" at this present time? Specific example please. Is it telling you that you cannot collect coins? What?

That might shed some light on your point in asking the question, because it seems pointless to me. I do not see that the governemtn is in the business of telling me what I can do in my personal life, or that it wants to be.

[tjnite]

14. Good example.

Its purely hypothetical. Cant collect coins. Must keep children under 17 indoors after 5pm. Must not sleep nekked. Nust not have more than 2 kids. Must drive a vehicle no older than 2002. Must not watch more than 6 hours of tv per week. Must have dual pane windows. Cant eat any more bacon- that one would anger me

[surrealAmerican]

33. So, does this mean you're alright with a government ...

... telling you what drugs you are allowed to take, requiring your children to be vaccinated, making you wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle, not allowing you to drive a vehicle unless you pass a test, not letting you walk in the middle of the street, not letting you fire a gun in the air in an urban environment, etc.


Some intrusion into your "personal affairs" is actually in the public interest. Many instances are somewhat vague, but there is no particular "line".

[quinnox]

8. Off the top of my head, tracking chips implanted at birth

and in general, the big brother-ism of a 1984 style scenario, which surprisingly, is looking more and more possible as a future reality. There always seem to be sheep who will argue it is for "your own good and your own protection", no matter what the method is, they will accept it, as long as it comes from "authority". These kind of sheep vastly outnumber those who see the dangers of this path, in my humble opinion.

[tridim]

9. My line is at hypocrisy

As in, WE can do it because we're rich and powerful, but YOU can't because you're not as good as us.

[hfojvt]

10. I have "Doorways in the Sand" not lines in the sand

Last edited Tue Feb 5, 2013, 01:12 PM - Edit history (1)

except I cannot find my copy of it.

In "Doorways in the Sand" by Roger Zelazny, the main character says something like

"I have always believed in my right to do whatever I cannot be stopped from doing. Which is not as bad as it sounds, because I am generally a pretty decent guy. The question is how to convince the authorities of that. Lying, I decided was probably the best way."

Of course, I am an odd sort of liberal, because on the one hand I would say it is okay for the government to say "you cannot buy soda pop or candy bars with food stamps" but on the other hand think things like mandatory seatbelt laws and mandatory bicycle helmet laws are bullsh*t.

I also believe that I should have the right (and often exercise it) to run a stop sign while riding my bicycle through an empty intersection. Whereas many liberals here would like to see the folice write me a ticket, if not pound me with their truncheon. Folice, is a word that unfortunately has not caught on. It means "Fascist Police" as distinguished from other police. I got that word from a song parody I made up. "Puck. Puck. Puck the folice."

[JayhawkSD]

39. " things like mandatory seatbelt laws and mandatory bicycle helmet laws are bullsh*t."

On the face of it that would seem to be a good point. However, since there are laws requiring the emergency room to treat injuries regardless of the ability to pay, and the cost of treatment for those who have no ability to pay is passed on to society at large, added to the crowding at emergency rooms in any case, seatbelts and helmets protect more than the person who wears them. They protect society at large.

[ananda]

11. My personal line was crossed thirty years ago..

nt

[Go Vols]

17. Yep

Around Jan,20 1980

[JanMichael]

12. Censoring publications in public libraries

Banning books, essentially.

[kairos12]

36. Agreement with you

[upaloopa]

13. How do you draw a line in the sand about something you

don't have control over?
You have to decide how to deal with events not pretend they didn't happen.
The TAO says something about the strong trees and the wind. They break. Flexible trees survive.

[Scuba]

15. At one point the government forced me to sign away all my Constitutional rights ...

... and proceeded to then put me in harm's way.

While I'm proud of my service, I've since drawn a line much closer to personal liberty. Still, I willingly pay my taxes because I know my government both needed and best able to do many, many things. That includes protecting us for enemies foreign and domestic. If I have to give up my gun hobby to help ensure that happening, so be it.

[Agschmid]

16. Thanks for your service Scuba! n/t

[JayhawkSD]

40. Were you drafted?

[Scuba]

41. Yes, but joined the AF before induction.

[Kip Humphrey]

18. My line in the sand has been erased; it has been crossed too many times!

burglaries, union busting, illegal wars, loss of human rights, payoffs, stolen elections, murder and mayhem.

[Arctic Dave]

32. +1

[Morning Dew]

19. The Whiskey Excise Act...

That was some power grabbing there.

[Tikki]

21. My family finding out that I was baptized (against my and their will) after I have passed ....

away.

What kind of people would go against a family's wishes at the passing of a loved one and for what!!!!!


Tikki

[bemildred]

22. I ignore what they say, if that's what you mean.

It became clear when I was much younger that they had no idea what I ought to do.

[guardian]

23. man thongs

[jberryhill]

26. Prohibiting them, or requiring them?

[guardian]

38. LOL require them

it should be the new business attire. Though I'm not sure where you could go with casual Friday after wearing man thongs Mon-Thu.

[SWTORFanatic]

27. Cons already tell me I should be straight and marry a man. Hells to the no. Or that I should

stop being transgender and marry a woman. Hells to the no on that too.

[Rider3]

28. When politics gets between me and my healthcare

It's my body, it's my healthcare. Don't ever dictate what a person can/cannot have when it comes to their personal health.

[hamsterjill]

29. For me, it's the right of choice.

I will NOT vote for any politician who is not in agreement that women should have the right to control their own bodies.

That's my own, personal, line in the sand. And I honestly don't know WHY that is it for me, but choice speaks so much about personal freedoms. To me, I guess it's simply the absurdity of someone else trying to tell a woman that she HAS to bear a child if she chooses not to.

[forestpath]

37. +1

[Vinnie From Indy]

30. I like leaving lines in the sand with my big toe while

drinking a libation of some sort at a beachside tiki bar and watching the sun come up or go down. Either one is OK with me.

Cheers!

[liberal N proud]

31. Drawing in the sand is a waste of time

If you are in the desert, the wind will blow away your line. If you are at the beach, it will get washed away with the next tide.

You want to draw your lines in bedrock, it is much more stable.

[ZombieHorde]

34. Banning zombie movies.

I'll never register my zombie movies!

[kudzu22]

35. I don't know where the line is, but I know we're close to it.