The concept of states being given back the opportunity to make rulings regarding laws that would normally be federal domain is obviously a very stirring issue for me.
For one thing, we've seen that when we allow this to happen, a cult with a lot of money--otherwise known as the Mormon church--can swoop in and money up the issue so that basic liberties are denied a particular group.
Now, I'm not saying money doesn't play a part in how things get done in the federal government, but I also know that it's a lot easier to get laws passed state-by-state than it is in Congress.
When we're talking a law becoming a federal law than a lot more eyes are on it. Ridiculous laws get passed all the time when they're only state laws because if you don't live in that particular state, are you really going to care about what's happening there?
One argument that's really disturbed me regarding the gay marriage issue are the people who are trying to say that by having a judge rule Prop 8 invalid, democracy has somehow taken a hit.
First off, we don't have a free and clear democracy. We have a representative system of government that (ideally) is supposed to honor the majority but protect the minority.
Second, the people who make this argument are dancing around the fact that this is a clear-cut issue of prejudice. You can say marriage is or isn't a right, but you can't say that it's all right for straight people to do it but not gay people. At that point, what America stands for--the idea of a country where everyone is equal--is what's taking a hit.
I don't particularly want to leave this issue up to the states. I think saying that whether or not an American is gay or straight doesn't matter shouldn't be something that is up for discussion.
Sometimes laws aren't only meant to keep people in line. Sometimes they're a statement of belief.
I would like my federal government to flat out state that it believes I have as much of a right to get married as anybody else.
If they don't believe that, because they'd like to protect the sanctity of marriage, then I'd like them to shut down the 24-hour wedding chapels in Las Vegas and make it a lot tougher to get a divorce, because the last time I checked the divorce statistics, this country was doing an awfully bad job at keeping marriage sacred.
When the civil rights movement was going on, African-American students in the South had to be escorted into schools, past mobs of people who wanted them to go to their own schools--separate from the white students.
Had we left this issue up to the states, we still might have segregation in this country.
Instead, the federal government ruled that segregation was unfair. It made a statement confirming that we're one country, and despite all the different belief systems we have in our country, we strive to be tolerant of each other.
What happened in California was an issue of intolerance. At its core, that's what it was.
Tolerance should not be something that varies from state to state.
I don't like the idea of having fifty different states with fifty different opinions of whether or not its safe for someone like me to pass through there.
I want to be in America wherever I am in America.
And right now, there are places in this country that, in my opinion, are anything but America.
For one thing, we've seen that when we allow this to happen, a cult with a lot of money--otherwise known as the Mormon church--can swoop in and money up the issue so that basic liberties are denied a particular group.
Now, I'm not saying money doesn't play a part in how things get done in the federal government, but I also know that it's a lot easier to get laws passed state-by-state than it is in Congress.
When we're talking a law becoming a federal law than a lot more eyes are on it. Ridiculous laws get passed all the time when they're only state laws because if you don't live in that particular state, are you really going to care about what's happening there?
One argument that's really disturbed me regarding the gay marriage issue are the people who are trying to say that by having a judge rule Prop 8 invalid, democracy has somehow taken a hit.
First off, we don't have a free and clear democracy. We have a representative system of government that (ideally) is supposed to honor the majority but protect the minority.
Second, the people who make this argument are dancing around the fact that this is a clear-cut issue of prejudice. You can say marriage is or isn't a right, but you can't say that it's all right for straight people to do it but not gay people. At that point, what America stands for--the idea of a country where everyone is equal--is what's taking a hit.
I don't particularly want to leave this issue up to the states. I think saying that whether or not an American is gay or straight doesn't matter shouldn't be something that is up for discussion.
Sometimes laws aren't only meant to keep people in line. Sometimes they're a statement of belief.
I would like my federal government to flat out state that it believes I have as much of a right to get married as anybody else.
If they don't believe that, because they'd like to protect the sanctity of marriage, then I'd like them to shut down the 24-hour wedding chapels in Las Vegas and make it a lot tougher to get a divorce, because the last time I checked the divorce statistics, this country was doing an awfully bad job at keeping marriage sacred.
When the civil rights movement was going on, African-American students in the South had to be escorted into schools, past mobs of people who wanted them to go to their own schools--separate from the white students.
Had we left this issue up to the states, we still might have segregation in this country.
Instead, the federal government ruled that segregation was unfair. It made a statement confirming that we're one country, and despite all the different belief systems we have in our country, we strive to be tolerant of each other.
What happened in California was an issue of intolerance. At its core, that's what it was.
Tolerance should not be something that varies from state to state.
I don't like the idea of having fifty different states with fifty different opinions of whether or not its safe for someone like me to pass through there.
I want to be in America wherever I am in America.
And right now, there are places in this country that, in my opinion, are anything but America.
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