Yes a lot has gone on in the last couple months but just when I was wondering on what to put in, things took a turn for the ridiculous in Texas. Yes, the new platform for the Texas Republican Party wants to make performing same sex marriages a felony.
Never mind that Texas doesn't allow same sex marriages anyway, if the Texas GOP had their way preforming them would be a felony. It would also mandate jail time for straight people who abet a same sex marriage. All of this for something that can't be performed there now.
Between this and their stance to recriminalize sodomy, it seems the conservatives are more hellbent than ever in taking the culture war into full bully mode. Other stances on the platform is forcing women who want abortions to have sonograms beforehand and a measure to change birthright citizenship to include only those people born in this country to a citizen.
Granted many people will see this platform as throwing meat to their base. Several of the measures here would require changing the Constitution (the 14th amendment has been interpreted to mean if you're born in the U.S. you're a citizen) and Supreme Court precedent (in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled state anti sodomy laws unconstitutional) to force the country to be just like the far right in Texas want it to be. When you consider that, in order to achieve these goals (which also include banning oral sex, anal sex, and strip clubs), Federal law would have to be changed to suit these people's desires, then it should be scary regardless of where you live.
So what are the chances of this happening at the moment? While I can't be certain, I don't think it's likely. If the more extreme measures of this were made law, a court would most likely block it or it would be ruled unconstitutional. It does show just how the fangs of these people are coming out. They don't simply want to abide by the constitution but to make us all play by their interpretation of it.
Am I the only person who finds it ironic that the party that wants less government interference wants a large interventionist government when it comes to a woman's body or what people do in their private lives?
I have a feeling I'll be looking into this more in the print issue.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment