Speaking for myself

I'll be 73 this year. Within five years, I'll probably be moving to a retirement home. Death will follow. In the shadow of that inevitable outcome, I'm getting more and more clear about the importance of freedom.

On privacy: This freedom is fundamental, but it's not about TikTok. Privacy across the whole spectrum of public policy and social media is in tatters. Stop the grandstanding and fix it.

On women: Women must have the same freedoms men have. The government has no right to limit the freedom of women to control their reproductive choices. And no, Mark Robinson, women do not need to be led by men.

On gender and sexuality: Leave people alone. Anyone should have the freedom to be gay, trans, queer, bi, whatever the hell they want, as long as they're not hurting others.

On weapons: Speaking of hurting others, people seem to want guns. So be it. Just make sure that anyone using a gun to dominate or intimidate another person is put away or executed.

On religion: I demand freedom from religion. Keep your religious beliefs away from me and away from family.

On education: Teachers should have the freedom to teach. Lawmakers don't belong in classrooms. Teachers first.

On healthcare: We should strive for having freedom from needless suffering.

On basic human decency: As we learn from people like Trump and Robinson, anyone has the freedom to be an asshole. And the rest of us have the freedom to call bullshit.

We Democrats need to spend a lot more time talking about freedom. And I personally prefer it when we connect freedom with fairness.

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Grumpy old man

Someone told me I was turning into a grumpy old man. The old man part is new, but I'm pretty sure I've always been grumpy. Especially when I see powerful people knowingly treat others unfairly. The powerful are all for freedom. But fairness? Not so much.

We're often debating how much fairness is enough in any particular situation. It's a central issue.

I get that some people reject the whole idea of fairness itself. Tough tomatoes. Our society is already operating on the "fairness" continuum. No one gets to reject it out of hand.

Freedom and fairness are central to to effective policy and government. They're central to what the Democratic Party should stand for.

We should use them both. Together.