A Good Change Among the Bad.

Great news!

The Obama Administration has decided to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in two court cases. They previously were going to file for appeal when two courts found DOMA unconstitutional.

I wrote an essay about how DOMA is illegal for a class last semester. It not only violates the bill of rights and the 14th Amendment, but also the Full Faith and Credit Clause. States have to recognize things such as marriage licenses created in other states. DOMA made an exception for gay marriage, which makes the law discriminatory in itself. The act also made the federal definition of marriage "between a man and a woman" which violates states' rights. States were unable to fully implement marriage licenses when they wished to, because couples were unable to be recognized by the federal government.

Beyond the technical constitutional things making such laws and policies unconstitutional, the Defense of Marriage Act is simply wrong and harmful. People deserve to be treated as humans, and that includes being able to marry who they love. The government has no business making moral judgments based on who people are attracted to. If two consenting people wish to get married, what gives the government the authority to tell them no? Certainly not precedents from the Supreme Court, such as Loving v Virginia. And certainly not the constitution.

Obama has slipped up a lot throughout his term; at least with this he can walk away from office with something I can be proud of him for. I just hope the act is able to officially be overturned.

[Source]

The 14th Amendment

ps: I had a lot of other blog entry topics jotted down, so those will go up next week when I have to give them the time they deserve.

Walker's Political Agenda

 Wisconsin's new governor, Dictator [Scott] Walker is pushing through a bill that would demolish all public sector unions with the exception of firefighter, police, and state trooper unions. It would also more than double how much employees must pay for health insurance and increase how much they must pay for their pension. He then alerted the National Guard about potential unrest and protests. This is all in the name of fixing Wisconsin's budget. The result has been tens of thousands of protestors in Madison. Schools have also been cancelled across the state because of teachers calling in sick. State Senators fled the state to delay the vote on this bill, so it is currently at a standstill.

           First reaction: The problem is the health insurance system, so why punish public employees and force them to take on the burden? Especially when this bill would require many poor public employees to drop their health insurance.

           Second reaction: This is not to fix a budget, but rather fulfill a political agenda in two ways.

Union organizations are some of the top outside contributors to elections in Wisconsin and mostly for the democrats; others are corporations that support Republicans. If this attack on Unions is successful in WI, then it will be successful in other states. This is a political move to break up organizations that fund democrats, which is why fire fighters, police, and state troopers are exempt from the bill, those unions supported Walker.  
Also, we do not even have a budget crisis. Walker claims that he must fix a $137 million deficit, when he recently spent over $140 million supporting special interest. While Walker is blaming how much it costs to pay public employees, 2/3 of corporations don't pay taxes in Wisconsin.

First off, I am not a Democrat. As a Libertarian I find this political manipulation disgusting. The fact that people don't see this manipulation, and continue to blame public employees, is also disgusting. Or maybe they realize what is happening, yet do not care for the simple reason they dislike unions. I dislike unions, I want to see reform. But full out annihilation of public sector unions is not a reasonable option.

I applaud all the state senators that fled the state. Many argue that they should return to negotiate, but it is the Governor who refuses to negotiate. It is up to the people of Wisconsin to stand up against this assault if we want any hope of stopping this extreme legislation. Of course Scott Walker doesn't care, he says "If anything, I think [protests in Madison] made the Republicans in the Assembly and the Senate stronger, they're not going to be bullied. They're not going to be intimidated." Protestors in Madison are apparently bullies, yet what he is doing is purely in the name of democracy. He thinks that because he was voted into office he has free reign to force through any legislation he wants. I personally do not tolerate this, does the rest of Wisconsin?



Ps: Thanks for the support from Egypt!