Dillogic wrote:
Why can't states get to decide?
It's pretty much the same with firearm laws in the US. Some are clearly unconstitutional, but no one elsewhere cares for the most part.
That way you can keep most people happy [in the state] until they want change (if they do).
The states get to make decisions about things like marriage but they still must do so in a way that adheres to the US Constitution. Specifically they can't give benefits to - or impose punishments on - one class of people and withhold them from other classes of people, the benefit of marriage being one such benefit. To do so violates the 14th amendment, among other things. The courts have basically held that if a state wants to single out a class of people and not give them equal benefit or protection under the law, there must be a legitimate state government interest for doing so. So far, except for the 6th circuit, none of the courts who have made these decisions have been presented with any 'legitimate government interests' that they found to be credible.
But the more important point is that people's constitutional rights cannot be denied to them in the name of 'keeping most people happy'. People should not have their rights suspended or delayed because other people are not yet ready for them to have those rights.
I gather that a lot of straight people maybe haven't been able to put themselves into the gay person's shoes. They can't seem to ask themselves if they would find it acceptable to have their rights subjected to the whims (and votes) of other people, people who may dislike them based simply on who they are.
No one should ever be able to vote on another person's rights, and no one's rights should ever be subjected to the votes of other people. Fortunately that's how the Constitution tries to set things up in this country, and mostly how the courts have enforced it. And its a good thing too. Anything less is a slippery slope that would lead to all of us soon finding ourselves with no rights at all.
Suppose society is divided into 3 groups - group A at 40%, group B at 30% and group C at 30%. Group A doesn't like group B, so it has an election to take away some right from group B. Group C is of mixed mind and so while all of group A votes to strip group B of its rights, group C is split and only half of them vote to take B's rights away. Its enough for B to lose their rights. Meanwhile group A decides they also don't like group C, and holds another election to take some right away from group C. Group B is split on the issue and so it passes and group C loses its rights. Now group B and C are pissed, and get together with their joint majority and vote for a new law to strip group A of some of its rights. It would quickly form a very vicious circle. You poke out my eye, I poke out yours, unless we quickly end the tit-for-tat we'll soon find ourselves all blind.
To put a more personal spin on it, though, consider what you would think if the state where you lived decided that autistic people have bad judgement, and therefore it is unsafe for them to drive, so going forward they will not issue drivers licenses to anyone on the autistic spectrum. Or say that they decided that autistic people risk passing the syndrom down to their offspring genetically, and so made it illegal for those on the spectrum to have sex, or made it illegal for people with ASD's to have sex without a condom, but didn't require the same of NT's. Or say some backwards person in a position of authority in the state decided it should be open season on those on the spectrum, and decided that while assault against NT's would remain a crime, assaults against autistic people would be decriminilized. Or maybe people in your state are just uncomfortable with the entire idea of autism, and so vote to make it illegal for anyone with ASD to say so.
Maybe when the idea of voting on people's rights isn't just an abstraction it will become clear to you why it can never be allowed, and why people's rights cannot be denied because other people claim they aren't ready for it yet.
Last edited by ScrewyWabbit on 19 Nov 2014, 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
06 Nov 2014, 6:30 pm
