Well . . . to paraphrase many a bumper sticker: Don’t blame me, I voted for Kerry.
Which, I will admit, I did not do because I particularly wanted Kerry to win. No matter what he does, he strikes me as a stick-in-the-mud, and on many levels, I feel President Stick-In-The-Mud is the last thing we need as a country. One of the things I have always greatly respected about Bush is his willingness to say “this is what I feel is best for the country” and then actually go with it. He has very clear ideals and opinions, and I like that he sticks to them since that’s kind of his job.
But . . . I feel an increasing apprehension and am frankly appalled by his willingness to toss aside two-hundred-something years of separation of church and state, and make his decisions based on religious reasons and religious ideals. From Bush’ standpoint as a Christian, the Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage is a perfectly defensible idea. It’s against the definition of marriage he believes in as a Christian, and for his church, that’s fine.
Religious freedom is one of the cornerstones of our nation, and one of the things that make us all proud to be American. So is personal freedom. I would no more want a Constitutional Amendment legalizing polygamy than I want this one banning gay marriage. Not because I’m against either, or for either. But because I don’t feel these are issues that the government needs to get involved in.
Unfortunately, we’ve passed the point that the logical argument could be applied, which is simply for the government to stop licensing marriages entirely, and refer to all civil ceremonies as civil unions. We could have easily erased the debate by making marriage a religious act, and not a governmental issue. Now, we are poised to change our Constitution, and not for the better.
Suffice to say, yes, I picked my candidate based almost entirely on this one issue, because I feel that strongly about it. It’s something we’re all going to have come to terms with and make our own decisions about in the future, and I’m not happy with the direction things are going.
Like I said . . . don’t blame me, I voted for Kerry.
Well, if it’s any consolation, he can’t do such changes by himself. Even if Congress were behind him enough to pass such an amendment, it still needs to be ratified by the states. I don’t see that happening.
Be of good cheer. Perhaps the debate about the issue will be good for us. At this point, anything that engages the electorate is worthwhile.