So Barack Obama is the President Elect of the United States.
Congratulations to him, as he played the political game (and the
media) with superb skill. Time will surely tell if he can deliver on
the vision he put forth.
But as I sit here, a good part of me wonders if it will make a
difference. I really feel that we, as a nation, have drifted so far
from the promise and the vision was put forth as this nation was
founded that many of the hot topics of the day are truly irrelevant,
or at least should be.
One of the hottest topics around, one that has divided many of my
friends, is the issue of gay marriage. My biggest question is, "why
should it matter?" If we take the government out of our daily lives,
does it really matter if two women living together call themselves
"married" or not?
Let's take a step back and look at it. Well, there are money issues.
A married couple gets a break on their taxes. I really don't think
the government should be using financial incentives to encourage
private behavior. But if you really feel that two adults sharing a
domicile deserve to keep more of their paycheck (which makes little
sense to me, personally), why limit it to heterosexual couples who
have undergone a religious or civil service? For that matter, why is
there a civil service for marriage? Are your bedroom habits really
any business of the government? I say no, and I don't think I'm alone
in that. So if you're going to continue the tax breaks for married
couples, the same consideration should really be extended to all
households. All men are created equal, and they really ought to be
taxed that way.
Others have brought up the issue of health benefits for married
couples. That is another issue that the government should stay the
heck out of. I know companies that freely extend benefits to domestic
partners, regardless of marriage. I also know companies that do not
offer benefits to spouses as they do to individuals. I really don't
think the government should be telling companies what coverage to
offer. It is in the companies own best interest to try to get the
best quality employee for the cheapest compensation. If a company
feels it attracts a higher quality employee by providing lots of
benefits aside from salary (as Google's business model would
indicate), then that is fine, that is their decision. If a company
would rather have lower quality employees for lower compensation, that
is fine, too. Fair compensation needs to be driven by the masses, not
by the government.
So if you take out the two economic factors, what is left to make gay
marriage a hot topic? Morality. People have many reasons for not
liking gay couples. "It's just not right, it's a sin according the
Bible, it's an unnatural abomination in they eyes of (insert higher
power here)." While you're certainly entitled to hold those opinions,
it should not be the role of the government to enforce them. This
country was founded on freedom. One person's freedom ends when it
impedes on another. In this case, who's freedom is being impeded by
allowing two people to be in a relationship. You don't have to like
it, but it's my right to have nightly drunken orgies with three guys,
five girls and a midget couple from Centralia. You don't have to like
gay couples. Nobody ever said happiness was guaranteed. That doesn't
change the fact that it is not the governments duty to interfere.
So when we remove government from the economics and the morality of
the situation, we're not left with much of anything. If two people
want to solemnize their relationship, why should the government be
involved at all?
People are going to do what they are going to do. Black and whites
are going to have sex and even get married. Gay men, lesbians,
bisexuals and transgendered people will continue to seek happiness
with a partner. Polyamarous people will continue to have
relationships that may require a Venn diagram, or even a cork board,
index cards and bits of string. In the end, it's not the government's
job to care about any of that. It's the government's job to "establish
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity."
That's what it's all about. That is the role of government. I'll
have more thoughts at another time, but I do have to work in the
morning. With all the freedoms we get come the responsiblity to make
good decisions and accept the consequences thereof.
Unknown awww'ed
- 16 years, 14 days ago
