The anti-marriage excuse-o-mat

Conservatives do love coming up with coming up with excuses for denying us the "special privilege" of equality as their old excuses are shot down. They've whined that same-sex marriage should be legalized only democratically, but now that Vermont is in the process of doing just that, Governor Douglas says that lawmakers should have devoted their effort to the economy and the state's budget deficit. In that case, should the supporters of California's Proposition 8 have done likewise? Then again, one of the core aspects of modern conservatism is having multiple mutually exclusive dogmas and picking the one that gives the desired result in any specific situation.

Legislating from the bench

Now that President Obama has started making judicial appointments, it's as good a time as any to share my thoughts on the dreaded "judicial activism." While I believe in the separation of powers, I do not see how we can ever be free from such a thing. For one thing, as anyone who stayed awake during law school can tell you, it is not always possible to draw a bright line between construing the federal or state constitution and reading one's own wishes into it. The only working definition seems to be that judicial activism is any adjudication whose outcome we don't like. Moreover, courts are necessarily human institutions, not adjudicating according to some algorithm. Conservative judges have certainly been known to enagage in what would be called judicial activism if anyone else did it, often to narrow freedom rather than to expand it. Would you rather have courts that err on the side of too much freedom or too little?

Wait your turn.

People who secured their civil rights before us keep telling us to wait our turn. People who follow us in that struggle keep telling us that we may not progress unless they progress at an equal rate. Is there some reason why we, and only we, have to wait our turn?

Everyone knows ....

Everyone knows that all gay men are attracted exclusively to macho jocks, except that it's also an infallible dogma that we are all attracted, just as exclusively, to twinks and pretty boys. Moreover, it's teaching necessary for salvation that we all like smooth guys, except, of course, insofar as we all like hairy men.

It is vitally important that we slavishly follow sweeping generalizations about gay men, no matter how often we contradict ourselves in the process. Otherwise, we might actually have to stop paying lip service to diversity long enough to recognize that we are already a pretty diverse community, and we certainly couldn't have that, now, could we?

Don't ask, don't tell?

Given that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is in the news again, I expect to see the following help-wanted ad:

ARABIC TRANSLATOR: Must be heterosexual. Some knowledge of Arabic a plus. Send CV to Mail Stop ______, the Pentagon.

Republicans and smaller government

As the Bush economy collapses around us, we keep hearing about the supposed Republican obsession with smaller government. I do not recall that government shrank too much under Reagan, Bush I, or Bush II.

Just consider the main constituencies in the Republican Party. Neocons favor more American dick-waving around the world, i.e., larger government. Theocons want more control over public morality by American ayatollahs, i.e., larger government. Crony capitalists want protectionism and bailouts, i.e., larger government. Point out for me the constituency for smaller government.

Pro-choice?

I wonder how many people who describe themselves as pro-choice are pro-choice across the board. Many of them seem to take a view that is not functionally different from "my body, my right to choose; everyone else's body, my right to choose as well." Once, when a classmate in law school advocated a statist position on an issue that did not affect her personally, I asked her why she wanted to deprive those who were affected of the right to make choices over their own bodies. She was horribly upset, but she did not answer the question. I think Robert Heinlein was right about such people.