One of many recent editions of the national news dedicated to the hot topic of the day included yet another congressman being asked questions about his views on marriage equality and whether he lines up with the views the President stated on the matter. He was also asked how he felt this was received by citizens of his state and the churches of his state.
Interesting in the premise alone.
A specific query in this interview was, When do you think government should lead on social issues and when is it better left to the American people to lead?
In the matter of marriage equality - oh hell, let's simplify it - in the matter of equality, our government led on this long before we even had a real government. When our rebellious forefathers decided this new land should be free of the many prevailing restrictions under a stodgy old form of government from across the ocean, a declaration of independence was drafted in which lofty but fundamental ideals were set forth. The very concept that all men are created equal was enough to bring the anger and force of centuries-old traditional governmental controls down on our tiny upstart experiment. The idea that these equal individuals should all enjoy unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - well, it was rebellion enough to start the revolutionary war. A small, under-developed association of colonies with a non-existent military set out to throw off the shackles tightly held by the most powerful force in the world of that day. And only a tiny group of dedicated men of action and courage led the way. These men were no doubt distrusted by many colonists and were expected to lead the fledgling American way of life into sure destruction. Yet free thinking and determination prevailed.
The war was won, in a way, but the devil in the details still has to be fought and overcome.
Our national constitution, while not stating some of the language in the identical way as the earlier declaration, still made our self-determined national freedoms clear and went even farther in defining many of them. Yes, these freedoms still must be argued today and some were argued with more violent war within the first century of our nation's existence. Yet little-by-little, our country evolves in its grasp and its exercise of freedom. Ugly back-steps are often taken when too many people succumb to greed, corruption, racism, nationalism, basically anything guided by fear, and our freedoms again are threatened.
Marriage equality, as all equality, is part of the fabric of our national character. In my humble opinion, it appears clear that any desire to deny any citizen the right to the pursuit of happiness is directly antithetical to our way of life as a nation. It would appear that millions of us in this supposedly advanced society would rather move back under the flag and heavy hand of King George in 1776. Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Adams, Washington and all the other founding fathers would surely shake their heads in bewilderment upon seeing what little true advancement in ideals and fundamental human decency we express today. They would certainly admit that they did not get it all perfectly worked out, but as certainly, they would still stand by their huge sacrifices and monumental undertaking that started us on a road we should be able to walk.
Why do we humans continue to tie our own shoelaces together and then get pissed off at the floor that smacks us in the face?!
On the other hand, the Founding Fathers insisted originally that only land owners could vote.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how that work out today?