Stand up and step out:

Neighbors and Friends, you can be my friends and not share all my beliefs. We can live side by side and work with each other. You can be an American and be very different from me.

I have a lot of friends who forward messages without commenting. I don't even know if they read them. I really want to know how/what they feel and believe -  not what they absentmindedly forward. This week a friend, George, responded favorably to one of these "forwards". I felt compelled to support George. NOW, I am compelled to share my statements here because I write what I believe. This is MY belief.
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YOU, are "spot-on" George. I completely agree with you.

Don't consider this offensive, George, but one doesn't have to be educated or even particularly smart to understand and agree with your statements.

If I don't want to marry a man and I prefer a woman, I want that freedom. I don't have to have legislation to force me to marry a woman. On the other hand, if someone is born with a different makeup than me, I would not want to force them to spend their life with the opposite sex any more than I would want to be forced to be with the same sex. They deserve the same options and the same benefits that come with heterosexual relationships. I like FREEDOM.

If I want to pray to my God, I don't want to be forced to pray to yours. If we legislate that we pray to my God, that is forcing you and vice versa. Let's keep public prayer to ourselves and not only will I not offend you but you won't offend me. Keep the government from telling me that I have to be a Christian, or a Buddist, or a Morman, or a Unitarian. Let's all make our own choices. I like FREEDOM

I am a man. I would never presume to know what it is like to be a woman, to be my daughter, or to be my wife. If I can conceive of any condition under which a woman could rightfully want an abortion (and I can), then I favor abortion. I may work diligently to convince a loved one NOT to get an abortion in a given set of conditions, BUT, I want her to have that choice. I want her to have a safe place to live with that choice and to have all the best medical support for whichever choice she chooses to make. If her religion "requires" her not to have an abortion, she should have the choice to follow that. She should not be "FORCED" to have one or not to have one. I like FREEDOM!!

Drill? Drill? Drill? Why? I have not yet seen a study that shows that our fuel prices would be down one cent if we have more drilling on our shores and more blasting under our land. I HAVE seen studies that show we have the opportunity to FRACK our aquifer and to contaminate our water supply. Fuel is still somewhat of an option. Water is not. Wait until we have to import our water from a country that is not so greedy as to have contaminated their water. You think gasoline is expensive? How about $5 a gallon or $10 a gallon for drinking water. My freedom is to protect our earth. My choice is to depend less and less on our finite resources and challenge our intelligence to develop more and more renewable replacements. I like FREEDOM provided by our earth and our environment. FREEDOM to live and breathe.

Moreover, George. I like to think objectively. I like to listen to reason, not emotion. I live my life by logic and principles. If we legislate a belief and a lifestyle for our neighbors, there will come a time that they will be legislating one for us. That is not the freedom on which this country was founded. Keep us FREE to choose. I like FREEDOM.

I shall do all in my power to reelect President Obama. I believe with you, George, that he is our best candidate to preserve our earth, our freedoms, and our religions. I shall step out and stand up for American FREEDOM too.

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My beliefs are not political. They are human and right. There is another good man as a candidate for president but I don't believe his interests as closely in line with what I think to be most important.