October 26, 2008
CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 8 - CIVIL RIGHTS & CULTURE COLLIDE
A long time friend of mine (nearly 30 years) sent me an e-mail and asked that I consider voting No on Proposition 8, the Marriage Protection proposition here in California. This friend is one of those people I consider golden - unequivocally honest, brilliant, funny and wise. Wrong on this one, though.
The request:
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The request:
I hope I may impose upon our long friendship by asking you to consider voting NO on Question 8 on the November 4 ballot. As you probably know, this is the proposal to amend the California State Constitution to take away the right, recently recognized by the California Supreme Court, of same-sex couples to marry in California. It is, in my opinion, a mean-spirited effort to continue discrimination against a long-persecuted group, and it's only purpose is to impose a particular religious viewpoint on all citizens, whether or not they share that religion or that viewpoint. Its main practical effect would be to discourage a lot of tourist dollars coming to California; my best friends from Delaware got married in San Diego in August.
Thanks for your consideration, and I hope all is well.
Here's my response, edited to eliminate my friends' identity.I will indeed consider carefully how I will vote on 8. Between lawn signs, bumper stickers and other advertising, it is certainly a well known prop here in CA. And now that the big Hollywood and teacher union money just kicked in, every radio and TV in town has "No On 8" ads running.
I don't think the spirit of the proposition is mean, rather it is simply assertive of a rational viewpoint. And the viewpoint is cultural, not specifically religious, though for most people the two are synonymous. Unfortunately, like all issues in the culture war, it is polarizing and emotional, making for bad law regardless of spirit or viewpoint. Note how well Roe v Wade settled for good the abortion issue.
Those who I find least persuasive try to employ the civil rights argument. Marriage is the cultural cornerstone of the building block of society, the family. That we have eroded the strength of marriage and family through divorce, "blended" families and other "arrangements" does not support the argument that marriage is therefore now some kind of malleable or assignable "right", or that those not so deemed married by the state somehow suffer any loss of rights.
And I know several "blended" families and "arranged" couplings. Some are sincere, mostly positive, and happy, while others are for appearances, or convenience, or for a political statement. In all cases they are self-serving, and our society would endure with or without these associations. Without cultural human marriage and family, however, society will erode and disintegrate.
My culture and viewpoint compel me to vote Yes, sadly, and in exasperation that radicals from both sides have forced me to make a decision that will to a degree unnecessarily alienate me from some people. But I don't make cultural decisions based on the impact of tourism, and if my vote means more tourist dollars to Provincetown and fewer to San Diego, I think I can handle it. I'm happy to tolerate benign counter-culturalism, but I won't indulge or subsidize it.
I'm also knee-jerk opposed to practically everything that unions support. I've seen the teacher unions up close and personal, from the inside. Their spirit is always mean, my money is always theirs, and any opposition is racist and Jesus-freak. Yeah, that's the way to my heart. The fact that they are prominently on the No side makes my Yes vote easier. Just what in the hell does this have to do with their jobs as teachers? And why are the compulsory dues contributions of teachers who support 8 being used to oppose it?
And what if the proposition fails, which, given the barrage of ads, it very well might? Well, for one thing, you won't see Pentacostals or Knights of Columbus members rioting in the street, or heading towards Belmont Heights nude on bicycles in protest. Those who supported 8 will be as polite, hard-working and religious as they always were, just more determined than ever to reduce the power of government over their lives. We'll see a further hardening of the cultural battle lines, and a growing anti-government constituency that will at some point close their wallets. I know I'm immanentizing the eschaton, but that's the way it appears to be going anyway, what with a tanking economy and a Socialist President & Congress in our future.
Full disclosure: I'm 3rd Degree (though inactive) KofC - at least my dues are voluntary.
Hope I'm wrong. I'm a Julian Simon devotee, so I think the best is always ahead. Anyway, it's good to hear from you, and continued best wishes.
I don't think the spirit of the proposition is mean, rather it is simply assertive of a rational viewpoint. And the viewpoint is cultural, not specifically religious, though for most people the two are synonymous. Unfortunately, like all issues in the culture war, it is polarizing and emotional, making for bad law regardless of spirit or viewpoint. Note how well Roe v Wade settled for good the abortion issue.
Those who I find least persuasive try to employ the civil rights argument. Marriage is the cultural cornerstone of the building block of society, the family. That we have eroded the strength of marriage and family through divorce, "blended" families and other "arrangements" does not support the argument that marriage is therefore now some kind of malleable or assignable "right", or that those not so deemed married by the state somehow suffer any loss of rights.
And I know several "blended" families and "arranged" couplings. Some are sincere, mostly positive, and happy, while others are for appearances, or convenience, or for a political statement. In all cases they are self-serving, and our society would endure with or without these associations. Without cultural human marriage and family, however, society will erode and disintegrate.
My culture and viewpoint compel me to vote Yes, sadly, and in exasperation that radicals from both sides have forced me to make a decision that will to a degree unnecessarily alienate me from some people. But I don't make cultural decisions based on the impact of tourism, and if my vote means more tourist dollars to Provincetown and fewer to San Diego, I think I can handle it. I'm happy to tolerate benign counter-culturalism, but I won't indulge or subsidize it.
I'm also knee-jerk opposed to practically everything that unions support. I've seen the teacher unions up close and personal, from the inside. Their spirit is always mean, my money is always theirs, and any opposition is racist and Jesus-freak. Yeah, that's the way to my heart. The fact that they are prominently on the No side makes my Yes vote easier. Just what in the hell does this have to do with their jobs as teachers? And why are the compulsory dues contributions of teachers who support 8 being used to oppose it?
And what if the proposition fails, which, given the barrage of ads, it very well might? Well, for one thing, you won't see Pentacostals or Knights of Columbus members rioting in the street, or heading towards Belmont Heights nude on bicycles in protest. Those who supported 8 will be as polite, hard-working and religious as they always were, just more determined than ever to reduce the power of government over their lives. We'll see a further hardening of the cultural battle lines, and a growing anti-government constituency that will at some point close their wallets. I know I'm immanentizing the eschaton, but that's the way it appears to be going anyway, what with a tanking economy and a Socialist President & Congress in our future.
Full disclosure: I'm 3rd Degree (though inactive) KofC - at least my dues are voluntary.
Hope I'm wrong. I'm a Julian Simon devotee, so I think the best is always ahead. Anyway, it's good to hear from you, and continued best wishes.
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