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Writer's pictureFaith Olsson

What is Freedom? A Response to Gov. Murphy

In response to the overturn of Roe V. Wade, some celebrities, including Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry, chose not to celebrate Independence Day this year. Kardashian wrote on Instagram, “Fourth of July has been canceled due to a shortage of Independence. Sincerely, Women.” Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, discussed this issue among others in an interview with CNN the morning of July 5.





“War has been declared by a right-wing Supreme Court against American women…” Murphy said, siding with the celebrities boycott. “We are a great nation but in challenging and troubling times right now, and women especially are paying a huge price.”


The assumption Kardashian made by signing her post “Sincerely, Women,” and the one Murphy made with his claim that the Supreme Court is “against American women,” implies that all women are negatively affected by the decision. To the contrary, thousands of women nationwide were overjoyed with the Court’s decision. Meanwhile Perry opted to compare women to a sparkler, how empowering.


Murphy referred to the “right wing Supreme Court,” however, he chose to dodge the reporter’s next question inquiring about pro-life Democrats. Although they are rare, pro-life Democrats do exist and Murphy refused to acknowledge them.


Throughout the interview Murphy uses the term “reproductive rights.” This seems counterintuitive considering the goal of abortion is to prevent reproduction. With or without Roe V. Wade women have full reproductive rights, they are restricted in their destructive rights.


Celebrity culture teaches women that their value is from their sexuality and the result of their sexual activity is a parasite. On demand abortion feeds men and women the lie that they can decline responsibility for a pursuit of pleasure. Abortion allows an escape of consequences; in most causes consequences caused by adults exercising their rights. The right to autonomy requires responsibility though the demand from the Left is freedom from responsibility.


True freedom intertwines with responsibility. Freedom is not creating your own reality by which you live but setting limits to allow you to live in a fashion true to your nature. As Timothy Keller explains in his book Reason for God, if a bird tried to live according to its will rather than its nature and chose to dwell underwater, it would die. The same is true when applied to music, a musician is at their finest when constricted to the discipline of learning the right keys rather than banging mindlessly on a piano. A woman’s nature is to cultivate life not destroy it.


The idea that a baby in the womb is a clump of cells is popular despite being misinformation at its finest. In the words of John Stonestreet, “Ideas have consequences, bad ideas have victims.” The Declaration of Independence promises the right to life, endowed by a creator not a government, whether or not the mother thinks the baby has the right to live.


“What good is a right if you don’t have access to it?” Murphy said before transitioning into a conversation about gun rights. He brags about New Jersey’s gun laws then makes this statement,


“And I’m going to sign seven more laws today not to attack Second Amendment Rights. We respect those rights but to attack folks who should not have guns, folks who don’t know how to use them, manufacturers that market the guns in a way that leads to harm.”


But, “What good is a right if you don’t have access to it?” New Jersey may allow abortions but they are one of the strictest states when it comes to gun laws. Why are these two not weighed the same? Both should serve the purpose of saving innocent lives, but it seems some lives are more valuable to Murphy than others. As George Orwell put it, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”


When asked his opinion on California Governor Gavin Newsom paying for ads against Florida Governor DeSantis, Murphy supported the idea.


“Thanks to a hard right radical block in the Supreme Court we’ve become a patchwork quilt country right now and I think the states that are on the right side of history, and I’m proud that New Jersey is,” Murphy said. “We need to stand up and be counted and make sure we remind folks around the country if you value values, come to states like New Jersey. And I suspect that’s what Newsom has in mind in relation to California’s views.”





The Democratic response to a rejection of their agenda is campaigns against your character. Though the California commercial promises freedom, more gun laws are in the works, so once again only select freedoms are accessible. Not to mention California's unpleasant issues of homelessness, wildfires and the highest taxes in the nation. Newsom asks people to come to California while its own population dwindles. Nearly 650,000 people left California in 2020.


Murphy claims New Jersey is “on the ride side of history” but I would love to find an ancient civilization praised for infanticide. He also said if you “value values” New Jersey is a place for you. How can you determine what is valuable when you cannot decide when life begins? What if what I value is different from what Murphy values? If I stand for my differing values will you make commercials about me too? These questions linger outside the liberal agenda.


Though the opinions in these piece toward the act of abortion are firm, know that there is always grace found in Jesus Christ. If you or someone you know is struggling with an unexpected pregnancy or past abortion, click here for resources.

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