Doing the right thing

LARRY ANDERSON
Larry Anderson

When campaigning for the presidency in 2008, Barack Obama hedged on his position on same-sex marriage and got away with it, largely because political opponents and Big Media failed to challenge, a common malady.

If you have forgotten, Obama, back in the day, described marriage as a bond between a man and a woman.

As far as same-sex nuptials went, the farthest he would go was to give luke-warm support for civil unions.

Obama’s real position was carefully obscured until the time was right. He followed the advice of David Axelrod and others to take the position that would garner the most votes.

Honesty wasn’t required to play the game; only a malleable moral code was necessary.

Over the next four years, Obama allowed himself to “evolve” into a more progressive thinker regarding same-sex marriage. The next thing you know, the man is an advocate, and the transition was as seamless as an electronic transaction at the Bank of Dishonesty.

This process was carefully engineered. The result was a revelation in political judo, accomplished by the master of Saul Alinsky’s political ploys.

Today, Obama is an icon for the gay community and understandably so if one sets aside the ambiguity of his position. If one is willing to accept the “evolution” explanation for Obama’s shifting on a slippery slope, then chances are excellent he can say anything and get away with it.

Today, same-sex marriage is accepted due to the Supreme Court ruling. Legally, there is no place to stand in opposition to it.

Morally is a separate matter and open to dissent.

My position on same-sex marriage is the same as it has always been. I believe it is a civil rights issue.

Everyone is entitled, in our society, to pursue happiness.

If that includes marriage to a partner of the same sex, so be it. Either all citizens are equal or they are not; equality must be guaranteed legally, or we risk hypocrisy.

Not everyone agrees with that position, nor must they, and there is still the moral position as expounded by most faiths that keeps the issue controversial.

Personally, I leave that aspect alone.

If same-sex marriage is a mortal sin as many believe, then that is between the person, his/her minister, and his/her god. It has nothing to do with me. I’m not running for office.

That brings us to Kim Davis, the Kentucky official who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples even though compelled to do so by the law and a cranky judge. Davis cited her religious beliefs as a reason for her refusal and went to jail amid jeers by the opposition and cheers by supporters.

Now, Kim is an elected official sworn into office and compelled to obey the law. Therefore, if her religion was more important to her than the law of the land, she should have resigned her office, in my opinion. That, too, would have made a statement.

But!

Isn’t it refreshing in this age of moral ambiguity to find a regular person willing to go to jail for what they believe? Isn’t it nice to know there are still Americans who will place personal convictions over the absurdity of political correctness?

Kim Davis took a stand and backed it with determination, grit, and moral reference.

As a supporter of civil disobedience when justified, I can at least cheer her resolve. It takes courage to go it alone, to stand against the harping and shrillness of those who can‘t tolerate even one person‘s dissent.

It also takes a bit of courage in this peculiar age for a sheriff to place an “In God We Trust” decal on departmental patrol cars. This has caught on in different parts of the country, including here in Nodaway County where Sheriff Darren White has added the motto to fenders.

Critics abound, of course, because in our country, even a four-word statement of trust must be challenged by those feigning offense.

It is, after all, our national motto. It only states a trust in God, a brief testimony in the judgment of a higher power, not an endorsement of any particular religion. One thing all religions acknowledge is a god.

If those four words offend atheists to the point of intolerance, then perhaps lack of such is due to an absent moral code or an understanding of an ethical nation.

Personally, I can walk by a sign reading “I Don’t Believe in God” and not be offended to the point of making demands for its removal.

Can they do so similarly, and if not, why not?

Larry W. Anderson’s novel, I, Eugenius, is available at Maryville Daily Forum and on Amazon.