My View
BY DON SORCHYCH | JULY 1, 2015
SCOTUS
While driving to work on Friday, I was stunned to hear the Supreme Court had ruled 5-4 to make gay marriage legal. And yesterday they ruled 6-3 in an Obamacare matter strengthening federal government control of healthcare.
Here is what our legislators have to say on the matter:
Statement from Senate Leadership on today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on marriage
“Today's 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to redefine marriage is an affront to the millions of Americans who believe marriage is between a man and a woman. The ruling strips away the voices of the majority who have supported traditional marriage. Those citizens have now been silenced because of the opinion of five justices, who have ignored the Constitution and decided that in this democratic republic, they should define marriage, and not the people and their elected representatives.
“We agree with Chief Justice Roberts, who said in his dissent, 'Five lawyers have closed the debate and enacted their own vision of marriage.' Justice Scalia, in a separate dissenting opinion is correct when he says, 'This practice of constitutional revision by an unelected committee of nine, always accompanied by extravagant praise of liberty, robs the People of the most important liberty they asserted in the Declaration of Independence and won in the Revolution of 1776: the freedom to govern themselves.'
“It is disheartening that the Court has taken away long-held political processes, so sacred in this country, and instead determined the definition of marriage on its own, with no legal basis."
Our legislators are correct. There is no legal basis for the SCOTUS decision. The question is what the hell is going on in that court? We know many, perhaps most, are party decisions; that is why people wonder what has happened. Chief Justice John Roberts is under heavy criticism for helping Obama, while he is a registered Republican. Some feel the Obama administration has some dirt on Roberts. If that is true historians will find it but after it is too late to do anything about his weird decisions. Although Roberts voted against gay marriage he also knew how the majority was going to vote.
SCOTUS legislated from the bench when the decision should have been made by Congress or by voters. It is outrageous they overturned centuries of cultural acceptance that a man and a woman constituted a marriage. And there is good reason – the ability to bear children. Without births civilization would disappear. Gays counter this by saying they can adopt children. Yes they can but the young have to accept same sex parents with all the affects it has on the children’s world view. And of course the decision flies in the face of religions with legalities favoring gays. This is another case of slim minorities ruling a vast majority.
It will be interesting to hear what the Pope has to say. Recently he stepped up about global warming and in spite of his faithful followers saying he is infallible, he is wrong. Global warming is a left wing scare tactic using politics rather than science.
Then there is the terrible tragedy in South Carolina where a psychopath murdered nine black people while worshipping in their church. Of course churches typically are “gun free” zones which invite this type of violence. Any Christian should pray for the victims who were there to pray and celebrate God and Jesus.
The effect has been to blame the atrocity on the confederacy and the confederate flag. The governor of South Carolina has said all confederate flags will be taken down, but the legislature must do that. Stores have taken those flags off their sales lists. Apple has killed all apps about the confederacy. Alabama has essentially killed the flags display. Some are even blaming the stars and stripes.
Coming from a community of 2,500 in Illinois, I was surprised when I went to Navy boot camp in 1951, that southern enlistees were still angry about losing the civil war. So when I went to a small company in 1960 in Palm Bay Florida, Radiation Inc., I wasn’t surprised with my “welcome.”
I was given a manual to read about a “coder” as training. I went to two men, Bill Hicks and “Bud” Luther Mills and asked what a coder was. Up to that point Radiation only recruited from southern schools.
Hicks said, “Figure it out for yourself you F---ing Yankee.” We later became friends when they became convinced I wasn’t there to integrate schools. I also was in a hunt camp and the 23 men only voted me in because a dear friend Jimmy Holmes, a southerner all the way, said I was OK. The confederate flag was common decoration around there and it should remain a symbol of our history.
Some black activists are defacing historical statutes and paintings which again is an assault on our history.
This atrocity is causing a roar about gun control, which would take safety out of the hands of individuals. It is noteworthy that states which allow ownership of guns have a much lower murder rate than states which have strict gun laws. It is clear that the bad guys will have guns and we deserve to be able to protect ourselves.
