Clipping blog

---

Clearing the Browser Tabs – Rainbow Day in New York Saturday Edition Posted: 25 Jun 2011 11:38 AM PDT So now gay men and women can marry in New York. This is news because what has happened there will inevitably happen in most, if not all of the remaining states. Civil Unions are a flatly-dead issue, so far as I can see. The gay lobby proved in California, that they want nothing less than the whole enchilada. Well, okay then. Look, I have a lot of thoughts about gay marriage and few of them are simple. I could probably spend a few thousand words on the matter. I won’t, because the whole argument strikes me as futile. Gay Marriage will come to the United States, regardless of whether it makes reasoned sense or not and regardless of any potential, and I would argue inevitable, unintended consequences that will show up in 20 or 50 years. I do have three quick thoughts. 1) From the beginning, the bulk of the argument for gay marriage has been either disingenuous or based on arbitrary rationales. Those are not sound pillars for any public policy. Sad stories and pleas to the heart make for great soundbytes, and are impossible to argue in a fair debate (which is why honest debaters try very hard not to use them), but they make for rotten laws. Ace has a lot more on this point and his thought are worth pondering. 2) The prevailing libertarian argument that the government should not be involved in marriage is simply inane. Of course the government should be involved. Marriage is a contract and one of the important reasons we humans invented government was to provide stable rules for creating and enforcing contracts. 3) As I wrote on Twitter last night, I’m glad gay marriage was settled at the state level by a reasonably democratic process. I say “reasonably” because there was great coercive pressure from the courts on the legislature to pass the bill. The message was pretty plan: either the legislature passes the bill or the courts will impose it. Still, we did get a democratic result that can, if the people will it, be changed as we discover what effects gay marriage will have on the greater society. For a countervailing opinion, do read Cynthia Yockey’s post. She’s put quite a lot of thought into the issue and while I don’t at all agree with her, her points are worth consideration. And now, links! I’m glad that Yuval Levin wrote about the CBO’s policy of not accounting for human behavior in their various fiscal analyses. I’m more glad that Doug Elmendorf, the head of the CBO, made that point abundantly clear. If reporters would remember that, it would save us from a world of confusion and make it far less easy for Democrats to fool us on the cost of their legislation. Never let it be said that our President doesn’t respect the United States military. Why, look at the honor he paid to the only living recipient of the Medial of Honor, Corporal What’s His Face! Jose Antonio Vargas was never a journalist. He was an activist, a thief, and a fraud and he remains all three even though he’s “come clean” about his life as an illegal immigrant. “Take your medicine”, said Chris Christie. “Waaaah”, said the public sector unions. This is a heck of an article about introverts and the many myths people hold in their heads about us…err…them. This guy should know that college, to the “masters of the universe” isn’t about educating children, but sorting them into classes and don’t you know that the sorters always end up at the top. In the Moe Lane, “What Do I Buy” poll, I vote for Cthulhu.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Sundries Shack To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610