Principled Conservatives Should Applaud Supreme Court Gay Rulings

I am a Principled Conservative with Libertarian tendencies. I recommend that you be too.  See my blog Principled Conservatism Will Save This Country. 

I support the actions of the Supreme Court because it increases individual freedom of those seeking higher levels of commitment and responsibility.  Also it helps to free the States to pass the laws that they want.

The DOMA ruling also correctly chides the Federal government for infringing on the rights of both the individual and The States.  I argue in that blog that power generally needs to be devolved back to The States and away from the Federal Government. The Federal government is too powerful and is running riot over our Constituational guarantees.  And I also argue that The States should be incubators of public policy---not the Federal Government.  If Massachusetts has universal health coverage, fine.  If Vermont allows gay marriages, fine by me. Colorado decriminalizes marijuana, great!  I think the Federal government needs to follow the lead of the States.  Conservatives should applaud fellow citizens who want to take more responsibility and want to make deeper commitments in their lives even if it appears unconventional.

I applaud the Supreme Court rulings on striking down DOMA and returning the Proposition 8 case back to a lower court.  My reasoning, laid out in that blog, is that the decision affirms the primacy of The States to pass laws that they want--and those laws that do not infringe on the Constitution.  The Supreme Court affirmed that The States have a right to decide if gay marriages are legal and there is no room for a Federal Law to infringe in this matter.  The Federal Government was found, in fact, to be acting unconstitutionally.  Now if we can get them to rule on the warrant-less surveillance by the NSA or the actions of the IRS!! (don't count on it by the way)

Judge Kennedy said:

"No legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity. By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment,"

Connservatives and Republicans had better adopt "live and let live" and a tolerance to different points of view in matters between two consenting adults (gay marriage) and/or individual preferences that have no affect on anyone else (personal decision to smoke or grow marijuana).  If not, then they may go to the ash bin of history.  That would be a shame because Liberalism will take us to complete disaster as I pointed out in that blog entry. Conservatism must save this country from Liberalism.

Conservatives, and every citizen, need to be aware of the very human tendency to adopt a "I don't understand it, I hate it and therefore I must kill it" attitude.  Live and let live---if it doesn't hurt anybody.

My religious friends should admit that a few specific Biblical passages or injunctions regarding matters of sex, sexual behavior or even women's issues are usually not very relevant, helpful or useful some 2000 years later.    Be careful to not cling too strongly to a few passages and ignore the broader context and call to a profoundly loving, ethical and just life.  Remember Conservatism is rooted deeply in our religious and ethical traditions.