September 9, 2006
Fascist Actions of the Religious Right
"Is it too much to ask that judges and legislatures acknowledge the difficulty of this debate by leaving it to normal democratic processes? In fact, the more passionate an issue, the less justification there often is for constitutionalizing it. Constitutions tempt those who are way too sure they are right. Certainty is, to be sure, a constant feature of our politics -- some certainties endure; others are fated to be supplanted by the certainties of a succeeding age. Neither we nor the Framers can be sure which is which, but the Framers were sure that we should debate our differences in this day's time and arena. It is sad that the state of James Madison and John Marshall will in all likelihood forsake their example of limited constitutionalism this fall. Their message is as clear today as it was at the founding: Leave constitutions alone."
-J. Harvie Wilkinson III, The Washington Post
Looking back on the Pennsylvania ban of same-sex marriages, it's sad that people so shamelessly against gay marriage use such fascist methods which only demote the importance of dialogue. But I don't blame narrow-minded conservative ideologies so much as I blame the complacency and relativism of liberals. This is a supreme example of how fire must be fought with fire. The institutions that have oppressed must be overthrown. Bourgeois marriage is such an institution. It must be destroyed and from the ashes, the institution of socialist marriage must be built.
We must understand the distinction. Bourgeois marriage proposes that marriage be defined by market forces and the privitization and commoditization of love. Does this mean that socialist marriage is polygamy? No. Socialist marriage seeks to define marriage by the quality of relationship rather than the quality of marketability. Note that gays can be married in a bourgeois marriage system. However, the premise of marriage is not about love but about protecting individual interests. Two types of marriage can occur in the bourgeois understanding: inclusive and exclusive. Inclusive would assert that people can marry to whatever gender because we must protect the individual interests of each person as a function to private property.
Exclusive would assert that only one group can marry because if we allow the other group (for example, male homosexuals) to marry, it threatens the individual interests of the group of social power and their grip on the markets. Thus, the arguments are not really about human decency, love, respect, or the greater good, but about protecting the individual rights of either one group (socially and economically driven) or all groups (mostly economically-driven).
Socialist marriage is based on a more just model of marriage. Gender, to a socialist mind, is totally irrelevant. The determining factor of a legal or moral marriage is the relationship, not the individuals. If the relationship is bad, the marriage will be bad. If there is a power disparity, abuse, infidelity, or unconsented, unhealthy or otherwise dangerous relationship, marriage should not be permitted. Take for example Ricky's little appearance on the Daily Show of all places:
"Stewart: ...But wouldn't you say that society has an interest in understanding that the homosexual community also wants to form those same bonds and raise children and wouldn't a monogamous, good-hearted, virtuous homosexual couple be in society's best interest raising a child rather than a heterosexual couple with adultery, with alcohol issues, with other things, and by the way, I don't even need to make that sound as though a gay couple can only raise a child given failures in other couples.
Santorum: You're matching up best case vs worst case.
Stewart: I'm talking best case because...
Santorum: If it's best case best case, the best case everywhere is one man, one woman, their child, raising that child."
-transcript via http://towleroad.typepad.com/towleroad/2005/07/can_y9ou_confus.html
This is a sad, sick world in which we live. The most depraved statements about homosexuality (that is, mostly concerning parenting) are also the least supported by objective, scientific evidence.
God, I can't wait to vote this guy out of office!
Posted by EvanReynolds at September 9, 2006 6:36 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry: