Liberty for All. Terms and Conditions Apply.

“Liberty for all” is a stirring slogan. For many conservatives, however, it comes with an asterisk: unless you exercise it in ways they dislike.

Want to marry someone of the same sex? Express your sexuality? Live openly as a transgender person? Suddenly, individual freedom requires government supervision. Practice a religion other than Christianity, use marijuana recreationally, or make your own reproductive decisions, and the champions of limited government start reaching for the rulebook.

The contradiction is glaring. How can politicians demand that government stay out of their lives while insisting it intervene in everyone else’s most intimate choices?

Religious liberty protects your right to follow your faith. It does not entitle you to make your neighbors follow it. Personal opposition to abortion, marijuana, or gay marriage gives you every right to abstain. It should not automatically give you authority over another adult’s body, relationships, or beliefs.

A free society requires accepting that other people will make choices you would never make yourself. That is the test of a commitment to liberty.

If your definition of freedom extends only to people who worship, love, dress, and live as you do, you are demanding conformity.

The sign should read: “Liberty, subject to approval.”