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The principles that rule this blog

Principles that will govern my thoughts as I express them here (from my opening statement):


  • Freedom of the individual should be as total as possible, limited only by the fact that nobody should be free to cause physical injury to another, or to deprive another person of his freedoms.
  • Government is necessary primarily to provide those services that private enterprise won't, or won't at a price that people can afford.
  • No person has a right to have his own beliefs on religious, moral, political, or other controversial issues imposed on others who do not share those beliefs.

I believe that Abraham Lincoln expressed it very well:

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot
so well do, for themselves — in their separate, individual capacities.”


Comments will be invited, and I will attempt to reply to any comments that are offered in a serious and non-abusive manner. However, I will not tolerate abusive or profane language (my reasoning is that this is my blog, and so I can control it; I wouldn't interfere with your using such language on your own!)

If anyone finds an opinion that I express to be contrary to my principles, they are welcome to point this out. I hope that I can make a rational case for my comments. Because, in fact, one label I'll happily accept is rationalist.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

What's the next step?

The Supreme Court's ruling on California's Proposion 8 (Hollingsworth v. Perry) puts California among the other 12 states and District of Columbis where same-sex marriage is legal. And the other ruling on the subject (United States v. Windsor) makes it clear that anyone that the States consider married, the Federal Government must recognize as married too. Two very sensible rulings, which it pains me to see so-called “conservatives” attacking. Most of the time, conservatives believe that the Government should protect people's rights. They should realize that both these rulings are in that spirit. However, a lot of “conservatives” seem to want to have the Government impose their moral standards on everyone, even though the others may have a different view of what is, and what is not, moral. These “conservatives” I can only despise. They would, I'm certain, feel differently if, say, an Islamic Government imposed its rules, as the Taliban did, on them.

So I'm happy with these rulings, but I wonder what is next. I don't think the nation is ready for the equivalent to Loving v. Virginia, overturning laws in many States. However, I can see a logical next step. A person who gets a driver's license in one State can drive in all the other 49, even if, for some reason, they would be ineligible in the State where they are currently located. This is because of Article IV of the Constitution. It requires the States to give “full faith and credit” to the acts of other States. A case might be made that a Virginia same-sex couple, going to Massachusetts to get married without establishing Massachusetts residency, is stretching the law, and Virginia can legitimately refuse to accept this marriage. But it seems to me that a same-sex couple who marry in Massachusetts, being resident there at the time, have a legitimate marriage that must be recognized in the other 49 States, even if, say, Virginia will not allow such a marriage to be performed there.

So I think this is the next step. Forcing all States, under Article IV, to recognize legitimate marriages performed in other States, at least between residents of the State where the ceremony was held, is going to cause great consternation in States like Virginia, but I think this will need to be done before those States are forced to allow the marriages to be performed there. At least, that's how it seems to me.

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