THE annual exchange of human rights accusations between the U.S. and China this week threw our differences into sharp relief. Our nation isn't perfect, but it is founded on individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution, a set of laws that even the government must obey. Freedom,
it’s not just words"We've been born in a country where we have the right to be wrong," journalist Karen Elliott House wrote. Because we are often wrong doesn't mean the system doesn't work, but that it does. Freedom means we can make bad choices, even at the risk of addiction, homelessness or imprisonment - and some do.
The courts have ruled it unconstitutional to deny people of the same sex the right to marry. While many oppose this on religious grounds, the Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion also protects us from religion.
"The day this country ceases to be free for irreligion," said Justice Robert H. Jackson, "it will cease to be free for religion." Or as Jimmy Carter said in 1979: "I think the government ought to stay out of the prayer business."
The Constitution isn't a first draft to be amended by popular opinion. It exists to protect individual rights from such sentiment.
Historian Barbara Tuchman wrote, "Basic to all policy (is) how to apply wisdom to government. If wisdom in government eludes us, perhaps courage could substitute."
Now's the time for our elected representatives to at least show us their courage.
