The Count is Now: 35

I was really hoping that he would not take this step, but President Bush has announced his support for a Constitutional Amendment barring gay marriage. If he really wanted to appeal to his base, he should have constrained federal spending and reduced the size of the government. Instead, he has taken the Bad Old Days brand of Conservatism approach by promising to maintain the privileged of the "righteous" against a minority that would never have voted for him anyway (Andrew Sullivan and the Log Cabin Republicans not withstanding).

The biggest issue I have with social conservatives is that they make no distinction between the individual and society when it comes to issues of morality and liberty. They would say that a person who commits immoral practices in private would harm society, regardless of any actual proof of that harm. In my view, harm must be proven before Liberty can be denied. That is where I break away from the Republican view and tend toward the Democratic. (More accurately, I'm keeping my values, and the parties move farther or closer to the principle.)

To those people who fear the idea of gay people being treated as well by the state as straight people:
1. Government is the basest of institutions created by humankind. It is given power, and it tends to draw people who would use that power to their own ends. If you truly believe that marriage is a sacred institution, then protect it by separating it from Government.
2. If you believe that God shall judge our society with Fire and Brimstone for violating his sacred commands, then pray that you yourselves shall be judged worthy and spared, while the rest of us take the responsibility and punishment that should come. We have chosen, and you have chosen, and God can tell the difference.

As for myself, I voted for Harry Brown, the Libertarian candidate, in 2000. He didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell a hot place, but at the time I believed that he was the only candidate I could vote for and not feel the need for a shower. At this point, it looks like 2004 is going to be the same.