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O.K. here's why those things have to be in the constitution to have legal effect. The constitution is the rule book. The government is otherwise soverign and can do whatever the hell it wants. A whole bunch of people agreed to this over 200 years ago and the only way we can change it is by amendment or revolution. It's great to talk about what you or I may think about life, liberty, and other such stuff, but ultimately, it is the constitution that grants those rights that cannot be abridged by legislation or ballot initiative. I don't believe the right to gay marriage, and a lot of other things are in there. Others disagree. The problem I am seeing in these threads is the contempt for the majority and a misunderstanding of their power. There are a lot of things that the majority can do in this country. That's why elections are important.
If the argument is why the majority would do such a thing as ban gay marriage, I really don't have an answer. The majority gets a lot of things right and wrong and there is always disagreement. However, I cannot understand how anyone could be surprised by the votes on Tues. You get one state supreme court from Mass. that makes a decision out of the blue that arguably impacts every state (full faith and credit) that is terribly bad law and horribly unpopular. If one wants to push for gay marriage, the exact wrong way to go about it is to have four very liberal judges change the rules and ignore the law rather than trying to change minds. Then you have a number of mayors in other states go around and blatantly ignore the law. This isn't a discussion, it is arrogance. And it doesn't win friends and influence people.
Incidentally, I don't care one way or the other on gay marriage.
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