Minnesota's Gay Marriage Amendment

Currently the state of Minnesota has a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on the ballot for next November and it has been making a lot of people very angry.  Naturally, we have been hearing a lot of the GOP and GLTB talking points (and some other weird stuff), but I read this in the Pioneer Press the other day and it got me to think about why conservatives should support legalizing gay marriage:

America is about freedoms... Like you used not to be able to marry somebody of a different race, and that is just ridiculous now.  So I think that its just a matter of time... People will be surprised that it was ever an issue.

This is a quote from a 19-year old resident of Minneapolis who visited the state fair this past week, and I think what she says brings up two very important parts to the gay marriage debate that conservatives need to consider.  

First, "America is about freedoms."  Conservatives see themselves as defenders of freedoms from the left and the government, yet this particular freedom is just a little too much for them.  You cannot pick and choose what freedoms people can and cannot have -- you are either free or not.  I am a firm believer that once you compromise on one part of a freedom, you compromise on 100% of that principle.  The principle here is people having the liberty to free association, and this can be with your employer, organizations, or who you choose to marry.

The second point is that marriage laws have a clear history of being used to limit the rights of minorities, such as Jim Crow laws which prevented interracial marriages.  Likewise, laws which outlaw gay marriage limit the right of free association of the LGBTQ minority.  Conservatives do not want to be remembered 40 years from now as the people that held back the rights of those with a different sexual orientation, just like we look back with shame on those who held back the rights of those with a different skin color.  Moreover, it's always important to remember that if you give the government the right to limit the freedom of a group you don't like, there's no reason to think that same power won't be used against you somewhere down the line.

A Conservative Proposal for Dealing with the Debt

From the Conservative Action Project comes a set of suggestions for dealing with the staggering $14 trillion national debt:

1. No Tax Increases.

2. The total amount of spending cuts included in any increase to the debt ceiling must at least equal the increase in the debt ceiling.

3. Inclusion of $300 Billion of spending cuts from the recommended options proposed by the House Republican Study Committee Spending Reduction Act of 2011, including Defunding “Obamacare”—officially known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

4. Cap total federal spending at its historical average of 18% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and enforce this with statutory automatic spending sequestration whenever spending exceeds budget levels or the debt exceeds the new limit.

5. A Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) with strong protections against federal tax increases and including a Spending Limitation Amendment (SLA) with statutory, enforceable total spending caps to reduce federal spending.

Read the whole proposal here.  What do you think -- is this enough to stop the debt?  A good start?  Too much?  Give your view in the comments.

Study: Are Liberals Smarter Than Conservatives?

I write tonight in complete disgust.

What I’m disgusted in is either a huge blunder or a blatant bias in reporting by Time Magazine. To be honest, I am not sure what worries me more -- that no one in 1500 comments and 5000 Facebook 'likes' caught on or that it can slip (or be guided) through the cracks of editing in such a trusted publication.

Take a look below to see if you can spot the egregious error or read below to let me explain:

The notion that liberals are smarter than conservatives is familiar to anyone who has spent time on a college campus. The College Democrats are said to be ugly, smug and intellectual; the College Republicans, pretty, belligerent and dumb. There's enough truth in both stereotypes that the vast majority of college students opt not to join either club.

The Perils of Partisanship

From the Southern Avenger: