To the national "values driven" voters, from a Massachusetts liberal: Keep your filthy, grasping bureaucratic hands off of my Church!
How dare you claim that you are "protecting state rights" or "protecting the sanctity" of anything when you legislate religious belief? Do you really think that defining marriage in the (state/federal) constitution is going to be the end of it? Would it have been a-okay for a President Kerry (should he have been elected) to write up Catholic Executive Orders? Mandate latin services? You like to talk about having a "personal relationship with Jesus?" How is that going to work with the feds are the middlemen?
"No no," you say, "that's not what I mean at all!" But that is exactly what you want to do to me, yourself and the rest of the country!
I don't care one whit if I agree or not with the sentiment behind your proposed "amendments" - if your law is telling me what/how to believe/worship/practice/pray then it has absolutely no business being law! THIS MEANS YOU!
And another thing... I am
sick of you blathering on that the Gay Marriage business in Massachusetts was the work of so-called "activist judges" taking away the choices of the people: we the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts defined the principals by which our state was to be run in our Constitution and the details in the laws enacted over two-hundred-some years of our existance as a state. The SJC simply ruled that the
policy (not law!) of refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples was inconsistent with our consensus principles of behavior. They later ruled that enacting a law to slam the door would itself be inconsistent with the Constitution and if the people wanted to change those principles, then we were going to have to do it according to our laws, and not some end-run around the law by
activist legislators (and Gov) trying to take away the voices of the people.
And you know what? While things may yet change, it sure looks like the people spoke pretty darn clearly on November 2nd, and it looks like we don't really mind so much that Adam and Steve can see each other in the hospital and buy health insurance for their kids. The world didn't come to and end, we still have the lowest divorce rate in the USA, and after the dust has settled, I'm damn proud of my state reps, and I've told them so.
Thanks for reading my test-rant - I plan on using it on my "values-driven" inlaws.