Tom Zirpoli: The GOP’s for freedom the right kind of freedom | COMMENTARY – Baltimore Sun

Where are the freedom fighters when you need them?

I find it interesting that those who protested a simple thing like wearing a mask, which literally saved lives, dont see the hypocrisy in demanding that a woman follow through on an unwanted pregnancy against her will. We are just trying to save the lives of unborn children, they say. Well, people asking you to wear a mask during a pandemic, a far less significant act then caring for an unwanted child for 18 years, were just trying to save the lives of unvaccinated children.

Do I need to further explain the difference between temporarily wearing a mask and a nine-month pregnancy followed by at least 18 years of child care?

Could it be that our demand for freedom is limited to our own selfish desires while we turn our heads to more significant threats against others?

I just read an article about the erosion of beach property in North Carolina. One man, Ralph Patricelli, who just watched his house float away beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, stated: I think I have been naive that its not going to affect me on the level that it just did. Having experienced this, I have a whole new level, in my head, of how severe climate change is.

Blessed are those who dont have to experience things personally to understand.

Several Republican states are trying to outdo each other in how harshly they will punish women who have an abortion or even try to have one. No limits apply, it seems. Even limiting the freedom of women to travel to other states where abortion is legal seems to be fair play for Republican lawmakers. Meanwhile, they are not interested in regulating any part of the mans role in the pregnancy or the decision to abort.

Republicans in multiple states are trampling on the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit. Protecting parental rights was a big campaign issue for Republicans until they ran into the parents of transgender children. It seems that for Republican lawmakers, parental rights end when parents have different beliefs than conservative Republicans. In other words, they dont really believe in parental rights unless the parents think like them.

In several states, Republicans have passed laws to investigate parents of transgender children for child abuse. Any family in Texas, for example, who has a transgender child is now subject to investigation by the state. Also, any doctor who works with parents of transgender children is also subjected to child abuse charges. Instead of working with children under their care, doctors and teachers are now required by the state to report the parents of children who are transgender for suspected child abuse.

Multiple states, all run by Republicans, are joining the attack on parents and their transgender children. Sounds like big government overreach to me. So, where are all the freedom fighters?

Freedom is also under attack by our closest ally. . In Jerusalem, Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known Palestinian American journalist and television reporter for Al-Jazeera, was shot in the head and killed while she was doing her job and covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank last week. Another journalist traveling with her was shot in the back. Abu Akleh was wearing a Press label on her helmet and vest at the time. She was a thorn in the side of the Israeli government, which didnt appreciate her coverage of Israeli soldiers behavior in the West Bank.

I wonder why?

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It seems that the Israeli government couldnt even let Abu Akleh have a peaceful funeral. Last Friday as her coffin was being carried from the hospital to the local Catholic church for her funeral, Israeli police physically attacked the pallbearers and other mourners carrying the coffin, causing them to drop her coffin.

The Israel government provided three reasons for the attack. First, they wanted her coffin to travel to the nearby church in a hearse, not by foot. Second, some of the people marching with her coffin to the church were carrying Palestinian flags. Third, some of the people marching were chanting, according to the Israeli government, Palestinian nationalist slogans.

The fact that the Israeli government believes it has the right to control any of these three things says a lot about its disrespect for the Palestinian people. Dont they enjoy freedom of speech and the right to protest peacefully? Why are mourners marching to a Catholic church for a funeral a threat to Israeli security?

Does the silence from the American right about these violations of basic human rights have anything to do with the fact that the victims in this case are Palestinians?

The Biden administration called the actions of the Israeli police deeply disturbing and said: We regret the intrusion into what should have been a peaceful procession. Yet, the U.S. continues to send the Israelis billions of dollars in foreign aid each year. If the Israeli government no longer stands for basic human rights and simple democratic values, should we be funding their move toward autocratic rule? Perhaps that money would be better spent in Ukraine where freedom is still being defended.

Where are those freedom fighters? Perhaps they are still driving their trucks around the Washington Beltway.

Tom Zirpoli is program coordinator for the Human Services Management graduate program at McDaniel College. He writes from Westminster. His column appears Wednesdays. Email him at tzirpoli@mcdaniel.edu.

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Tom Zirpoli: The GOP's for freedom the right kind of freedom | COMMENTARY - Baltimore Sun