North Carolina yesterday became the 30th state to ban same-sex marriage. Early results showed the amendment to its Constitution passing overwhelmingly by as much as 61 percent. The popularity of the amendment and key position of North Carolina in the upcoming presidential election appears to have prompted the White House to cancel an event in the state. President Obama cancelled a scheduled trip to North Carolina on the day of the vote. While Obama opposed the amendment last year, this week the White House was ridiculed by the media over the President’s refusal to support gay marriage and his insistence that his views were still “evolving” on the subject. The cancellation was widely viewed as an effort to avoid renewed questions over Obama’s refusal to take a clear stand on the civil rights question.
There was a huge turnout on Tuesday in North Carolina — attributed to the draw of the referendum. The proposed amendment states that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”
North Carolina is viewed as a key target with Virginia for both campaigns. The vote reflects the division in the state with more liberal urban areas opposing the amendment while more conservative rural areas supporting it.
Just for the record, I have long advocated that the solution to this debate is to get rid of “marriage” licenses in favor of a universal civil union standard — which is closer to the function of the state recording of such unions. I believe that marriage should be left to individual faiths and institutions as a religious-based concept. The role of the state is to record a civil commitment of two individuals to live as one couple. The current debate — including the demand for retroactive termination of marriages — shows how the term marriage continues to inject religiosity into what is a civil contract between citizens.
Notably, the last time North Carolina amended its Constitution on marriage was in 1875 when it banned interracial marriage. That ban only ended in 1971.
Source: CNN
Developing story: Obama Backs Gay Marriage
Blouise and Gene,
The etymology of the god Themonly has been slowly corrupted into Themoney. But in actual meaning there is little to distinguish the two.
bfm,
“Leave the marrying to the church and all the legal details of child raising, property, medical decisions, and inheritance to the state.”
Given the limitations of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause, you have nailed down the essence of legitimate state involvement in marriage in the first place.
“get rid of “marriage” licenses in favor of a universal civil union standard”
Absolute genius.
Get the state our of the business of marrying individuals in part because marriage clearly flows from a religious tradition. Let the church handle that for those who want it.
Let the state provide a structure for civil unions to couples who feel ready to commit through sickness and health, till death or through legal procedure they part.
Leave the marrying to the church and all the legal details of child raising, property, medical decisions, and inheritance to the state.
Who could possibly argue about that? Oops, maybe the wrong question. But still, quite simply the best suggestion re marriage since the invention of the nation state.
BTW, some have debated Obama’s position on same sex marriage. What ever his personal opinion, I doubt anyone ever accused Obama of not being a political realist. With the nation still firmly divided on this issue is there any surprise that he is using a little creative ambiguity. I think not.
“Themonly”
Nice smithing there, gbk.
Blouise,
“Without a target to hate, these folk have no God.”
I don’t know about that; it seems they have a god called Themonly.
It’s amazing with all the knowledge that is available on the web today that people use words they don’t understand and often in a contradictory fashion.
democracy \di-ˈmä-krə-sē\, n.,
1a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
2: a political unit that has a democratic government
3 (capitalized): the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the United States
4: the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority
5: the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges
By definition, one cannot defeat oligarchy by the abandonment of democracy unless one opts for monarchy or dictatorship which are just as bad in practice as oligarchy.
“By definition, one cannot defeat oligarchy by the abandonment of democracy unless one opts for monarchy or dictatorship which are just as bad in practice as oligarchy.”
Why must I opt for monarchy or a dictatorhship when democracy fails?
Your are not considering the facts that democracies have never worked. Thinking that something that doesn’t work is the best, is an illogical thought. That is why our Citizens attempted to see if they could get a democratic Republic with the protection of individual rights to work. Sadly it hasn’t either.
I was in the Democratic Party and they do not even pratice their own democratic philosphies. The year I was in the Boca Raton Club, the State Party took our clubs campaign war chest from us without our concent and we had raised more money in Palm Beach than any of the other clubs. The Democratic Party is not even democratic and as every libertarian knows theyr’e just a bunch of lying political thieves just like their representatives.
So what do we do now Gene H?
The interview with Obama has started. People are saying that there is “pink smoke” rising from the White House.
raf,
Mike DeWine, republican, who Sherrod Brown defeated for the Senate seat in 2006 after DeWine had held the seat for two terms. DeWine is of no help as he owes his present position of Atty Gen to the teabaggers. It’s too bad he sold out to those gooneybirds but I guess it was the only way he could keep a government job.
It is interesting that despite all the knowledge that is on the web today that people still believe that a Democratic Republic can provide what is in the best interest of the majority. Government is a power brokerage cartel that acquires it power by either overthrowing its government or by overthrowing anothers and once in power, they use the most horrible of methods of maintaining such powers. The French Revolution was the best example of that. If you can show me a good example of a government that has worked well for the majority, I will show you many lies within it’s history. You will never ever defeat the oligarchy at the political game they control through political means. We must agree on a better method to acheive success and it will not incorporate violence. It will incorprate the pen and the minds of the majority.
Karl,
“And people who post here are eager to vote for this man come November even though their favorite professor and founder of this blog clearly won’t be.”
Eager? I think not. Speaking for myself–if I do choose to vote for President Obama in November, It’s because I fear what would happen to this country if the Republicans retain the house, gain the Senate, and Romney wins the presidential race. Republicans already own the Supreme Court. I don’t have a lot of faith in the Democrats–but they are better by far than the party that has given over its soul to far-right-wingers.
You are spot on Mike A.
Blouise,
The next step for the Republicans in Ohio will be to reduce the number of voting locations in Democratic areas as has been done elsewhere. Is the Attorney General in Ohio a Democrat or a Republican?
SwM,
Further … this bill, Ohio H.B. 194, besides removing the requirement that poll workers direct voters (in many cases their friends and neighbors) to their proper precinct, also reduces the number of early voting days from 35 to 17, eliminates voting on the weekend before an election, and prohibits county boards of elections from mailing unsolicited absentee ballots. H.B. 194 will be subject to a ballot repeal measure in November.
More than thirty states have new or pending changes to current voting laws.
States seeking to change their laws have passed or proposed provisions that significantly reduce the number of early voting days, require voters to show restrictive forms of photo identification before voting and make it harder for volunteer organizations to register new voters.
Supporters, Republicans, of these laws argue that they will reduce the risk of voter fraud. The overwhelming evidence, however, indicates that voter fraud is virtually non-existent and that these new laws will make it harder for hundreds of thousands of elderly, disabled, minority, young, rural, and low-income Americans to exercise their right to vote.
What irks me about this is that SSM was already illegal in NC (please correct me if I’m wrong). All this does is remove the right of PRIVATE Business to allow domestic partners onto the insurance of their employee. I’d be willing to bet that most of the “pro” voters have at one time or another moaned about the federal govt’s interference in private business and religion. Now, it seems, since THEY are the ones interfering, it’s Aok.
SwM,
This is something the League has been addressing for decades.
Helping confused voters find their precinct is time consuming but a necessary element in a democracy.
I’ve worked the polls in affluent neighborhoods and voters confused as to which precinct is theirs is common. As areas expand or contract precincts are redrawn and polling places change. Sometimes polling places change as the numbers accessing them change. New people move in and register to vote then forget which precinct they live in. Some people only vote every four years in the Presidential election and can’t remember where they voted four years previously.
Depending on the size of the precinct, we always had at least one person assigned to helping confused voters find their precinct.
Four years ago I forgot that precincts had been redrawn and Tex and I went to the wrong place to vote. Not only were we in the wrong precinct, our new precinct polling place was at a different address. I was embarrassed, as you can well imagine, as I’d received a postcard with the new info but had forgotten all about it on the day we went to vote. I was one of those confused voters republicans want to keep out of the booth!
Tex and I have lived in the same house for 35 years and in that time we have voted at four different polling places. That will be the Republicans next move … changing the physical polling places once every two years. Once the poll workers are no longer required to help voters find the address of their polling place, they can start further confusing the voter by constantly changing the address of their polling place.
Oh, for the NC guy who said the government should be based on Biblical law, here’s one of my least favorite Biblical laws (mostly because it’s not even-handed):
If a man is fighting with his neighbor in the alleyway between their houses,
and
If that man is losing the fight,
and
If the wife of that man (losing) comes out into the alleyway to help her husband, so he will not lose the fight,
and
If to help her husband, that wife reaches down and grabs the testicles of the man who is beating her husband, and squeezes them,
YOU shall cut off her hands for doing that.
Show her no mercy.
Given the history of this sort of legislation around the country, the North Carolina vote was virtually a foregone conclusion. But fear, religious extremism and authoritarianism have been driving conservative politics for years.
When the inevitable court battle produces the inevitable court ruling reminding us for the umpteenth time that civil rights are not subject to the whims of majority rule, the inevitable response will be outrage about “liberal” judges, assaults on Christianity and the sacrifice of the nation on the altar of secularism.
Well said Mike. I’ve been seeing the same BS out of the right wing Christian movement for close to 40 years, negating many of the potentially positive outcomes by the libertarian and patriot movement. You’re either for liberty or against it, make up your mind folks. You can’t continue to be hypocrits.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/05/260823/ohio-gop-weakens-election-law-by-allowing-poll-workers-to-refuse-to-inform-voters-where-they-can-vote/ Did you see this, Blouise?
Without a target to hate, these folk have no God.
The Republican leadership is very good at putting targets on people’s backs and their followers are grateful for being given the opportunity to show how much they love God.