....On States Rights........

I found this article about gay marriage.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110234

I am a proponent of gay marriage for a number of reasons.

1. It's absolutely none of my business.
2. Love is indiscriminate.
3. Gays being married has no consequence on "traditional" marriage.
4. It's a legal contract in each state, and per the 10th ammendment of our beloved constitution, ALL citizens have equal protection under the law.

Those are my main points. My beef here is with states rights. DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. This is a bad law for two reasons, it is discrimitory and it tramples states rights. No section of the Constitution gives our federal government the power to rule or pass laws on social matters with no bearing on the overall public wellfare. DOMA should absolutely be repealed on these grounds.

The "Respect For Marriage Act", is the first "for the good of the people and respect for the law" piece of legislation to come through the house this year. It repeals the bad parts of DOMA and makes sure that ALL legal marriages are recognized by the federal government, "equal under the law".

As far as the rest of the gay marriage issue, if each state has made marriage a legal contract which you have to buy a licsense to get, then ALL citizens should have the right to marry any other citizen they choose, legally. On the other hand, no church should be forced to provide marriage services to couples of which they do not agree with their "lifestyle", that's a religion issue. The Mormons don't even recognize marriages from other churches. My wife and I purposely omitted all references to God from our vows, to the church, we may not be married, but by the state we are, does that make our marriage more valued than a gay couple married in a liberal church? I really think if it is that big an issue, we should consider making marriage a non-legal entity, whereas a church can marry whoever they want for religious reasons, but there are absolutely no legal benefits to marriage, ie; taxes, inheretance, insurance, wills, etc., etc. Just a thought.

Back to states rights, another example that will be coming very soon is a federal "texting/driving" law. I am anti-texting/driving, but the federal government has no authority to make such laws, the states do. Washington, where I live already has a law, as do many other states. Advocates of the laws should pressure other staes to do the same, but discourage the feds to do the same. I know it seems like just a little thing to protect the people, but the little things add up quick. Every time we grant the government even the slightest bit more power than the Constitution allows them, we lose a little more freedom.

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.