The title is incredibly callous, but, yes, I totally agree with it.
The entire idea behind the United States government is that it is possible for human beings to live together, side by side, without ruling one another, without dictating the lives and actions of one another, without BEING A FUCKING DICK. Sorry, everyone else was saying it, I just had to. Okay, I tell a lie, I just wanted to say it.
I know it's different in other parts of the world. China, Europe, the Middle East, in varying degrees there are other cultures that subsume the individual to the good of the society. Yes, yes, all well and good, speak like Spock, "The needs of the few are outweighed by the good of the many." Great. Who decides what is 'good'? This is the idea that Communism is built on, and it has utterly, utterly failed. It just doesn't work, because it is built on the assumption that people won't act like people (ie, unpredictably, greedily, selfishly). When someone starts talking about 'the greater good', I run. Or I shoot. If I run, I don't look back. If I shoot, I shoot to kill.
The idea here is that it's best to let people do what they will, because they will anyways, no matter what you do or think, no matter how much better you know you could run their life if you were in charge. It is their life to live, and it is the only one they have. You cannot take that away from them, even if it is 'for their own good'. Taking away their right to their own life can serve no good.
The only (and I stress ONLY) exception here is if someone else's rights are being infringed upon. Then you are entitled (but not required) to reply with proportional force. If some punk kid is playing football in your yard, ask him to leave. Tell him to leave. Pick him up and take him from your property. Call the cops. But don't shoot him. That's stupid. Pointlessly harming another person is one very valid definition for sin.
On the other hand, if there's an armed robber in your house, if you're feeling generous you may just wing him in the arm or knee. But be prepared to put him down if he continues fighting. This is proportional response to infringed rights. The right to your own life is the most important one, and the one from which all other rights originate.
You can talk all you want. Free speech is not an issue here. Demonstrate, speak out, make a couple signs on sticks if it makes you happy. You can even chant. Yay. But don't for a second think that you can stop me from deciding what I want to do with my life, with my time, with my money. Those decisions are part and parcel of what my life is. Taking them away is tantamount to slavery, albeit a kinder and gentler slavery. That doesn't make it better. It makes it worse.
That right, to do as you wish as long as you hurt no one else, is the biggest part of what makes this country the best this earth has ever known. We have efforts to legislate morality every day, but most of them fail, and the ones that don't are gradually being overturned or ignored as people realize how ridiculous and counter-productive they are.
If I or anyone else want to do something, and it isn't hurting you or anyone else.... DON'T BE A FUCKING DICK. Boy, there's an entire philosophy for living, summed up in five nice, short words. Great stuff, if a bit on the rough side. Still, it does get your attention.