Fighting for Truth, Justice, and the Male White Privileged Heterosexual Way
Bush finally figured out that he needs to appease his campaign contributors, this being an election year and all, so he's steamrolling ahead with a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
<rant>
This guy's knowledge of 'American jurisprudence' doesn't seem to extend much farther than knowing that buying judges pays off in the long run... speaking of which, he just circumvented the Senate again (second time in two months), installing Alabama Attorney General William Pryor (who last year filed a Supreme Court brief comparing homosexuality to "prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography and even incest and pedophilia") to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Looks like Bush is hoping the old "have hand-picked judges in a Florida court during an election year" trick will work again.
As for "the most fundamental institution of civilization", I suspect that would be "mate with whomever you can work out an equitable arrangement with, as often as possible". Politically, it seems like the people who are most 'supportive' of 'traditional family values' (whatever the fuck those are) are conservative white guys, who stand to lose the most if they can't maintain their illusory powerbase. Women, you have the ability to change the world: DON'T SLEEP WITH CONSERVATIVE WHITE GUYS. Breed them right the fuck out of the genepool. They're ideological dinosaurs, they've had their reign, it's time for them to step aside.
</rant>
Gay marriage doesn't threaten any necessary establishments, and isn't the result of some quirk or defect of law. In fact, the right for two people to marry each other, regardless of gender, is necessary as a direct result of our other laws. Many laws respecting inheritance, property transactions, and child custody explicitly require the parties involved to be legally married. Think about power of attorney - as an adult, surely you should be able to choose who is granted power of attorney to in the event that something happens to you. Or think about hospitalization - if you were hospitalized, surely you would wish to be visited by your partner. But as it stands, in many states those two wishes are explicitly denied to anyone who isn't 'family' through marriage or birth. If such basic human situations make marriage a prerequisite, then legal marriage is, in effect, a purely functional arrangement that has more to do with property transactions than with any particular belief in the sanctity of marriage.
For my part, I don't feel like what other people wish to do with their lives is any of my fucking business, as long as it doesn't harm me, and despite becoming quite jaded by my country I've managed to maintain the belief that 'freedom' implies that everyone should have the same rights. This is NOT the same as saying that everyone should have the same entitlements... I just feel that nobody should be specifically prevented from bettering themselves. Bush and pals seem to feel very threatened by the thought that The Others (be they people from Other nations, Other races, Other genders, Other political parties, or Other ideologies) might enjoy the same freedoms that they themselves do. The part I've never been able to understand is why do 'We the People' support assholes like Bush, when they are so clearly only interested in maintaining their power base? I suspect that some of that old flag-waving brainwashing stuck, and the commoners will support such elitism as long as they believe that the slightest chance remains that they can join the elite themselves. That's pretty sad, if you ask me.
"After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization," the president said in urging Congress to approve such an amendment. "Their action has created confusion on an issue that requires clarity."
<rant>
This guy's knowledge of 'American jurisprudence' doesn't seem to extend much farther than knowing that buying judges pays off in the long run... speaking of which, he just circumvented the Senate again (second time in two months), installing Alabama Attorney General William Pryor (who last year filed a Supreme Court brief comparing homosexuality to "prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography and even incest and pedophilia") to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Looks like Bush is hoping the old "have hand-picked judges in a Florida court during an election year" trick will work again.
As for "the most fundamental institution of civilization", I suspect that would be "mate with whomever you can work out an equitable arrangement with, as often as possible". Politically, it seems like the people who are most 'supportive' of 'traditional family values' (whatever the fuck those are) are conservative white guys, who stand to lose the most if they can't maintain their illusory powerbase. Women, you have the ability to change the world: DON'T SLEEP WITH CONSERVATIVE WHITE GUYS. Breed them right the fuck out of the genepool. They're ideological dinosaurs, they've had their reign, it's time for them to step aside.
</rant>
Gay marriage doesn't threaten any necessary establishments, and isn't the result of some quirk or defect of law. In fact, the right for two people to marry each other, regardless of gender, is necessary as a direct result of our other laws. Many laws respecting inheritance, property transactions, and child custody explicitly require the parties involved to be legally married. Think about power of attorney - as an adult, surely you should be able to choose who is granted power of attorney to in the event that something happens to you. Or think about hospitalization - if you were hospitalized, surely you would wish to be visited by your partner. But as it stands, in many states those two wishes are explicitly denied to anyone who isn't 'family' through marriage or birth. If such basic human situations make marriage a prerequisite, then legal marriage is, in effect, a purely functional arrangement that has more to do with property transactions than with any particular belief in the sanctity of marriage.
For my part, I don't feel like what other people wish to do with their lives is any of my fucking business, as long as it doesn't harm me, and despite becoming quite jaded by my country I've managed to maintain the belief that 'freedom' implies that everyone should have the same rights. This is NOT the same as saying that everyone should have the same entitlements... I just feel that nobody should be specifically prevented from bettering themselves. Bush and pals seem to feel very threatened by the thought that The Others (be they people from Other nations, Other races, Other genders, Other political parties, or Other ideologies) might enjoy the same freedoms that they themselves do. The part I've never been able to understand is why do 'We the People' support assholes like Bush, when they are so clearly only interested in maintaining their power base? I suspect that some of that old flag-waving brainwashing stuck, and the commoners will support such elitism as long as they believe that the slightest chance remains that they can join the elite themselves. That's pretty sad, if you ask me.
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