Welcome to Virginia, ca. 2007.This year, Virginians will vote on a referendum that seeks to redefine marriage by changing the Virginia Constitution. Legal precedent determines that "a marriage is between a church and a couple, and it is unjust for government to refuse to endorse some because of who the couple is." Reactionary forces nationwide, however, want to change that and define it as a contract between a man and a woman.
What are the ramifications? Next year in Virginia, we'll likely find out, but there are a few hints. As more and more of these state-based amendments effect their repercussions across the nation, the law of unintended consequences is taking a heavy toll.
Earlier this year In Ohio, a judge decided that unmarried women battered by their live-in lovers are not protected by the state's domestic abuse laws.
Yesterday, a judge in Georgia overturned that state's attempt to ban gay marriage, because it was written illegally. The Virginia Amendment Against Unmarried Couples is considered not only poorly written, but "Draconian".
Today, a town in Missouri decided to evict unmarried parents if they are found living together.
The City Council has rejected a measure allowing unmarried couples with multiple children to live together, and the mayor said those who fall into that category could soon face eviction.
What other unintended consequences will follow from the Virginia Amendment Against Unmarried Couples?
Chances are we'll find out.
I mean, this seems like the dumbest, most loop-hole filled joke of a referendum. I swear...how lame. It won't go anywhere, especially in the big cities. PLUS...what are they going to do with trailer parks?
But yeah, that's right....the Republican party is for "smaller government and less intrusion into privacy."
Sorry, I have to go; I just WET MYSELF from laughing so hard.
This is such a bunch of garbage. Yet, we don't want to spend $$ on something good for all, like, oh I don't know, passing a budget to make our roads better? Do they think that by hiring people to scope out sinners we are going to SAVE $$?
I have to hark back to an old Saturday Night Live episode, where they showed Dana Carvey as Bush #1 (who really, really should have made better friends with condoms, IMO) and Jon Lovits as Dukakis, and Dana Carvey was doing his great impression "1000 points of light, stay the course, gonna do it..." and then he was finished debating with about 4 minutes left to go. Lovitz looked right at the camera and said: "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."
That is EXACTLY how I feel. The Republican party and their "new ideals and agenda" are just like a chapter out of Alice and Wonderland, and I sometimes wonder when this acid trip they are all on is going to end so we can all go back to AMERICA.
The reactionary movement we now know as "conservatism" seems to have one fundimental core: fear. From that seminal feeling grow greed, ignorance, and hate. Welcome to the brave new world of conservative hegemony where love is sin, corporations are immortal "persons", government is evil but limitlessly powerful, and you are a traitor if you ask a question.
I was promised a better America than my parents, and I hoped to leave a better America for my children. I"m still fighting for it, but in light of the overwhelming resources of conservatism, what can possibly become of the American dream?
Welcome to our world, now suffer :)
Does it make sense to force unprepared mothers to have their children, then foce them to live in gathering poverty, in the face of rampant pollution and vanishing consumer protections. With public schools being raped by unfunded mandates that leave textbooks out of date, students unprepare, teachers out of work, and schools closing nationwide, where do families count in all this?
Now we have parents being forced to live away from their children simply because they didn't file a record with the county clerk, or because some administrator, legislator, or judge decided their religious choices were different and therefore illegal?
I understand that freedom is scary. I understand that people who enjoyed the wild night life grow up to have kids and that's terrifying. I understand that people get their hearts broken and conflagrate sex, personal misery and religious dogma.
Unfortunately, it seems that conservatives have decided that their personal pain, embarassment, and fear somehow supercede the Constitution of the United States of America.
Where is my America? When did freedom become bigotry? When did the American dream suddently become social darwinism and a class stratified society? When religion in America become more important that the Bill of Rights? When did we forget to love our children and begin to hate our neighbors?
There's a better way. When greed, ignorance and hate are replaced by service, wisdom, and justice America thrives. When fear, arrogance, bullying, and insecurity are replaced by confidence, strength, leadership, and the moral authority of positive action, America thrives. When devout believers choose to "judge not, that ye be not judged", and instead take up the difficult work to "love thy neighbors as thyself", then America truly thrives.
These are dark days, indeed, but America is stronger than conservatism. She will survive it to face the future stronger, wiser and more just. Let those days come soon. It seems they can not come soon enough.