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California Decision Will Radically Change Society
Creators Syndicate ^ | May 20, 2008 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 05/30/2008 4:43:37 PM PDT by Bernard Marx

Nothing imaginable — leftward or rightward — would constitute as radical a change in the way society is structured as this redefining of marriage for the first time in history: Not another Prohibition, not government taking over all health care, not changing all public education to private schools, not America leaving the United Nations, not rescinding the income tax and replacing it with a consumption tax. Nothing.

Unless California voters amend the California Constitution or Congress amends the U.S. Constitution, four justices of the California Supreme Court will have changed American society more than any four individuals since Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison.

Read the full column at: Gay Marriage

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: dennisprager; gays; homosexualagenda; marriage; marryyourtwinsisters; prager; samesexmarriage
I don't know if it's okay to post the whole column but I strongly suggest going to the source and reading the whole thing -- no matter what state you live in. This arrogant decision by our black-robed Masters will affect this entire nation.
1 posted on 05/30/2008 4:43:38 PM PDT by Bernard Marx
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To: Bernard Marx

Invasion of the queers! Oh God please help us!


2 posted on 05/30/2008 4:46:36 PM PDT by Morgana (Muslims.......I can't believe these people are that crazy without alcohol!)
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To: Morgana
I'm waiting for one of Ohsamma’s pastors come out and claim the white man created the homosexuals and thus used them as vehicles to transfer the aids virus.
3 posted on 05/30/2008 4:49:36 PM PDT by shadeaud
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To: Bernard Marx
Just think! Forty years ago the libs and hippies were telling us that marriage was not necessary in a relationship if you were sincere. It was ONLY a piece of paper anyway.

Now marriage is very important to a “relationship”, but ONLY if you are gay.

4 posted on 05/30/2008 4:50:42 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Bernard Marx

Prager bump


5 posted on 05/30/2008 4:50:50 PM PDT by VOA
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To: Bernard Marx

Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison and their peers went to war over much less.
I am sickened over just how apathetic to the cause of liberty and self government the subjects (not citizens) of this country are today.


6 posted on 05/30/2008 4:51:46 PM PDT by frankiep (Every socialist is a disguised dictator - Ludwig von Mises)
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To: Bernard Marx

Wow! That is a great piece! A keeper for sure!


7 posted on 05/30/2008 4:56:02 PM PDT by rlmorel (Clinging bitterly to Guns and God in Massachusetts...:)
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To: Bernard Marx

Pro-marriage Californians, give em’ a damn good fight this November. I am sick and tired of judicial activism. The four judges should be removed from office and their benches should by Lysoled.


8 posted on 05/30/2008 5:00:10 PM PDT by 444Flyer (Marriage=One man+One woman! Vote to amend the California State Constitution this November.)
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To: Bernard Marx

Since the Marriage amendment changes the Constitution, why not add another amendment to more easily(quickly) get rid of Supreme Court judges?


9 posted on 05/30/2008 5:09:28 PM PDT by Mark (Don't argue with my posts. I typed while under sniper fire..)
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To: Bernard Marx

Prager does a good job of presenting some of the downstream effects and unintended consequences of redefining marriage — things that don’t immediately come to mind. It is quite disturbing. The European countries that now allow gay marriage provide provide something of a test of his predictions. Do they present gay marriage as just another choice on par with hetero marriage in their public school text books? Do their wedding ring sellers show his & his and her & her rings in their advertising? Would be interesting to hear what FReepers who travel to Europe (I think these are mostly Scandinavian countries) have seen.


10 posted on 05/30/2008 5:27:45 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: Morgana

Typical for sex obsessed people.
They only care about what they want, not anyone else.
If it feels good, do it. Who cares if is destructive to society as long as they get to have their own fun.


11 posted on 05/30/2008 5:53:31 PM PDT by smoketree (the insanity, the lunacy these days)
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To: Bernard Marx

Looks to me like a chicken & egg kinda of thing, had the public not attempted to legislate their version of morality on the rest of the legitimate citizens of the state then the judges would have not had to step in and correct the oversight.

Same thing happened over the questions of slavery and civil rights, once it was a capitol crime to marry someone of another race, today we have no such restrictions. No doubt back when folks were first allowed to intermarry between races dire predictions were made that never came to past.

In 100 years the dire predictions made regarding gay marriage will look just as foolish and bigoted.


12 posted on 05/30/2008 5:57:08 PM PDT by DoingTheFrenchMistake
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To: Yardstick
I think it's good to critically examine Prager's predictions. But one should keep in mind that American law and the American way of doing things differs quite a bit from Europe. I believe polygamists and those who believe in polyandry may be watching this legal snowball start to roll. With same sex marriage as a legal precedent, and black-robed "lawmakers" eager to prove how "open minded" they are, it's hard for me to predict just where this stuff will end.

For anyone interested, here's a fairly current listing of same sex marriage laws in Europe European Marriage Laws

13 posted on 05/30/2008 5:57:11 PM PDT by Bernard Marx
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To: Bernard Marx

I’ll be interested to see if some of Prager’s worries come true. If they do, our grandchildren will live in a very different world than do we.


14 posted on 05/30/2008 6:01:33 PM PDT by Darnright (If "pro" is the opposite of "con", is progress the opposite of congress?)
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To: Mark

Isn’t it already available through imoeachment process?


15 posted on 05/30/2008 6:14:02 PM PDT by bubman
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake

An easy way to dispell your premise is this;
If everyone followed the homosexual way of marriage the entire population of this planet would disappear within 100 years.
If everyone followed the heterosexual way of marriage society would continue.
You cannot use fertilization with gay couples because that is still heterosexual with a different delivery method.
So the premise that “if it feel good it must be alright” can be very bad for everyone else.


16 posted on 05/30/2008 6:25:55 PM PDT by smoketree (the insanity, the lunacy these days)
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake
In 100 years the dire predictions made regarding gay marriage will look just as foolish and bigoted.

I doubt it. At the rates at which homosexual men in general - and lesbians to a lesser, though still significant - extent) take on multiple partners throughout their lives, divorce laws in this country will become a shambles, and marriage in general will follow.

Of course, this seems to be the left's goal overall in destroying the United States as a Judeo-Christian based nation. Only then it seems will former Americans realize the nightmare that has ensued. But by then too, it will be too late to recover.

And if you think secularism will conquer islam, you'd better re-think that.

17 posted on 05/30/2008 6:42:34 PM PDT by onedoug
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Why oppose any form of sexual relationship: gay, straight, bestial, with children, infants, multiple people. What’s the point? Why condemn this and not that? What’s the value to our culture, our civilization?

/s

Makes you seriously want to take up cave hunting.


18 posted on 05/30/2008 7:53:11 PM PDT by combat_boots (She lives! 22 weeks, 9.5 inches. Go, baby, go!)
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To: combat_boots

Well, if you can’t see that there is a vast difference between sex among consenting adults and sexual relationships which are bestial, with children or infants then I question your preceptive and decision making ability.


19 posted on 05/30/2008 8:23:37 PM PDT by DoingTheFrenchMistake
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake

“/s

Makes you seriously want to take up cave hunting.”

Read the rest of my comment and other posts here on FR. Then repeat what you said to me again and we’ll have words.


20 posted on 05/30/2008 8:34:58 PM PDT by combat_boots (She lives! 22 weeks, 9.5 inches. Go, baby, go!)
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To: bubman

Yes, but that’s slow. I want it done in a Hillary NY minute.


21 posted on 05/30/2008 9:30:27 PM PDT by Mark (Don't argue with my posts. I typed while under sniper fire..)
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake

IBTZ


22 posted on 05/30/2008 10:57:37 PM PDT by darkangel82 (If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. (Say no to RINOs))
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To: Bernard Marx
An insidious change has already taken place because of this decision; one not recognized by most people, and discounted by the left. "Brides" and "Grooms" can no longer legally be called by these terms based on reason and reality, since the wording the CA marriage license has been changed to refer to "Partner A" and Partner B." So natural heterosexuality has been supplanted by a new-world order terminology by the decision of 4 "feelers" and the quick stroke of a pen. I would doubt that a man and woman getting married would have the option of using the old form - thus the radical left has won the war of words and ideas in this state.

Quick question: If the marriage amendment passes in November, will the marriage license forms revert back to the traditional wording, or will the time and money to reprint be the excuse of the left to keep the ground won in hopes that they will have another chance at battle?

23 posted on 05/31/2008 7:14:32 AM PDT by fwdude
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To: fwdude

In regards to November’s marriage amendment do you really think that most citizens want the government to limit liberty? I think the chances of the marriage amendment being approved by the public is somewhere between slim & none, the only way this could ever become law is by decree.


24 posted on 05/31/2008 7:39:36 AM PDT by DoingTheFrenchMistake
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake

The discussion about interracial marriage occurred in the 1960s, when it was automatically assumed that marriage involved a man and a woman. Men and women can naturally produce children, so the basic rules of marriage were not changed by this. Marriage, in fact, was truly expanded by allowing people of different races to marry.

Marriage is supposed to to be an exclusive institution. You can’t marry someone who is underage. You can’t marry a close relative and you must marry a person of the opposite sex. These rules developed in the interest of allowing society to continue through the next generation of people.

Underage children cannot reproduce and even if older ones can, it is not in our interest for them to do so. How successful can children be in raising children? We have a bit of that in the inner city, and it’s best that people wait a little before they have their own children.

You can’t marry a close relative because of possible genetic problems in the children.

And finally, you marry a person of the opposite sex, because we don’t want to disconnect marriage from procreation. Disconnecting marriage from procreation altogether turns marriage into an institution which revolves around the self-esteem and desires of adults. Children become merely a by-product. Maybe they’re there and maybe they’re not, but it doesn’t matter because marriage will be for and about adults, and children will definitely know this.

Let’s say two lesbians have a boy. The boy eventually learns that he was produced from a sperm and an egg. He learns that his genetic father apparently did not want anything to do with him, and that his mothers disconnected him from half of his relatives for the sake of themselves. Where does that put him in terms of importance?

Do you really believe that the sexes are not different except for obvious physical differences? I’m amazed that this feminist theory has gained any traction because it contradicts experience. Very small boys and girls are different. Parents and teachers know this. If the hypothetical boy’s lesbian mothers divorce and remarry, he’ll then have four mothers and no father. Try telling an inner city minister or teacher that boys don’t need fathers.

We need to get off the subject of civil rights. People will always be producing children. In a highly imperfect world, marriage developed as the most stable way to channel the energies of adults into providing for their offspring and thereby contributing to the stability and vitality of society.

The subject needs to shift from civil rights to civil responsibilities.


25 posted on 05/31/2008 1:50:10 PM PDT by beejaa
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To: beejaa

Of course your position appears to be logical, the thing I would ask in response is that do you think that restricting the marriage contract will in any way change personal relationships.

In other words, is it your belief that if gays are prohibited from the legal benefits gained through marriage this fact will somehow be translated as a wake up call to abandon their homosexual lifestyle?

I think we both know the answer is that people will continue to be people and interact with each other as they always have, there is nothing new about homosexuality, it has been with since the inception of humans and will remain with our species forever.

So, if I am correct in my assessment, your position regarding restricting marriage simply becomes an act of punishment for a lifestyle between consenting adults that you deem inappropriate without any accompanying social benefit.


26 posted on 05/31/2008 4:15:04 PM PDT by DoingTheFrenchMistake
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake

“So, if I am correct in my assessment, your position regarding restricting marriage simply becomes an act of punishment for a lifestyle between consenting adults that you deem inappropriate without any accompanying social benefit.”

How is a lack of marriage a punishment? A lot of people think that divorce is a punishment, and we will surely see divorce among same sex couples if they are allowed to marry.

The State of California already awards all of the benefits of marriage to same sex couples but thus far has not called it marriage. I think that same sex couples have the best of both worlds - the financial and legal benefits of marriage without the stress and strain of divorce.

There are radicals who wish to marry in order to deconstruct marriage. In other words, they want to marry in order to subvert an institution that they think keeps them down. Why? When will these people be happy? We don’t yet know the full ramifications of deconstructing traditional marriage, but children need boundaries and security, not adult experimentation. Do your experimentation outside of marriage if that is what you want.

Perhaps you connect a lack of marriage with self-esteem issues, but the law is not responsible for self-esteem. Homosexuals and lesbians have distinguished themselves in the arts especially but in other careers as well; they just don’t belong in marriage because they do not naturally reproduce. When they do have children, they deliberately deprive a child of either a mother or father. Many options exist for mentoring children - Boys and Girls Clubs, etc. You can’t have it all. People need to leave marriage alone and let it do what it’s supposed to do, but some have a political agenda. In addition, many people have lost sight of the purpose of marriage because of no-fault divorce, the pill, the destruction of the old taboo against sex outside of marriage - the whole sexual revolution.

The government originally awarded benefits to married couples because the government got something extremely valuable back in return - the next generation (of government workers ;-), military personnel and so on). The entire future of society depended on married couples bearing children. Raising a child is extremely costly and time-consuming, demanding sacrifices from caregivers. The government gets nothing back from purely adult relationships. People care for elderly sick parents and receive no benefits. The self-fulfillment and recognition that adults get from adult relationships is no business of the government.

On May 4, somebody posted an article at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011086/posts . The article is a bit sensationalistic, but it makes the point about gay marriage more quickly than I can.


27 posted on 05/31/2008 5:19:03 PM PDT by beejaa
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To: beejaa

Shameless bump. This issue needs lots of discussion.


28 posted on 05/31/2008 8:32:00 PM PDT by Bernard Marx
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To: beejaa

Thanks for the well thought out reply you make a very good case for the preservation of marriage.


29 posted on 06/01/2008 7:48:46 AM PDT by DoingTheFrenchMistake
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake
...do you really think that most citizens want the government to limit liberty?

Of course they do, if by "liberty" you imply absolute liberty, which is anarchy. You know this, and the "liberty" gimmick is employed anytime a leftist liberal doesn't get his way. He isn't concerned that liberty is being limited, only that his particular wants are being denied. We live under a penal legal system, which effectively says that all behavior is permissible unless prohibited by some specific law or ordinance. So, every law passed does in some way limit what an individual would otherwise be free to do. This is acceptable in a society in which millions of separate egos operate - it always has been acceptable. Otherwise, the extermination of mankind is assured.

And what's the criteria that determines what behavior is restricted or limited? That's what the democratic process is designed to do. And this is based, as least historically in the United States, on a Judeo-Christian moral code, and by a consensus of what the majority of voting citizens determine is acceptable behavior and norms, either directly or through elected representatives.

I think the chances of the marriage amendment being approved by the public is somewhere between slim & none...

You mean like the numerous marriage initiatives introduced within the last several in the vast majority of states falling flat? I think you need to refresh yourself on the facts.

...the only way this could ever become law is by decree.

Who's decree? By 4 judges? Democrats and liberals know this method only too well.

30 posted on 06/01/2008 1:46:48 PM PDT by fwdude
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To: Bernard Marx

bttt


31 posted on 06/01/2008 1:51:54 PM PDT by Guenevere (If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.)
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To: fwdude
... "the "liberty" gimmick is employed anytime a leftist liberal doesn't get his way."

I don't think that the "gimmick" is limited to just liberals. It is doubtful though that your logic will be successful in preserving marriage because your own agenda gives you away.

32 posted on 06/01/2008 2:29:45 PM PDT by DoingTheFrenchMistake
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To: Bernard Marx

33 posted on 06/01/2008 2:52:31 PM PDT by Vision ("If God so clothes the grass of the field...will He not much more clothe you...?" -Matthew 6:30)
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To: Vision

I really hope the cartoonist is right. And so should you if you live in middle America.


34 posted on 06/01/2008 5:13:44 PM PDT by Bernard Marx
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To: Bernard Marx
Even the people of CA don't want it, it's being forced on them by the judges.
35 posted on 06/01/2008 5:44:47 PM PDT by Vision ("If God so clothes the grass of the field...will He not much more clothe you...?" -Matthew 6:30)
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake

Yeah, right. Everyone knows gays, has gay friends, but NEVER until recently has it become so blatant and in our faces, with people marching down the street in garish get-ups, interrupting church services, and preaching it to our children in the schools.

People are just fighting back for OUR country.


36 posted on 06/01/2008 5:48:25 PM PDT by DLfromthedesert (Michael Steele for VP)
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To: Vision
Even the people of CA don't want it, it's being forced on them by the judges.

Exactly right. I live in CA and I'm going to fight to pass the amendment to the state constitution. But who's to say judges won't force the same kind of decision on other states? The judges and media now think they run this country, and it's beginning to look like they may be right.

37 posted on 06/01/2008 6:28:24 PM PDT by Bernard Marx
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To: DoingTheFrenchMistake
It is doubtful though that your logic will be successful in preserving marriage...

We'll see in November, although I, too, have doubts about this CA amendment passing in one of the most liberal states in the U.S. After all, the voters elected the legislature that twice tried to legislate same-sex marriage into existence.

The institution of marriage has many more enemies than just the encroachment from the homosexual left: Voluntary single parenthood springing from culturally acceptable promiscuity; easy, flippant divorce; adults that are increasingly mentally and emotionally immature, thinking and acting like the children that are in their charge; liberal notions of what a family is and should be; the radical feminization of society. Perhaps radical homosexualization is but one branch of this rotten tree, but is just as destructive as all the others.

... because your own agenda gives you away.

Agenda, huh? And the left doesn't have an agenda that's as clear as crystal? And which "agenda" (value system, actually) does the average American identify with? Voters in 27 states to date have amended their constitutions by referendum to protect marriage as the one man/one woman institution it has historically been. Several other have passed laws short of constitutional amendments defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. These issues have passed by significantly wide margins wherever they have been put to a public vote. You're assertions don't line up with the facts. Do a little research next time before replying.

38 posted on 06/01/2008 7:45:16 PM PDT by fwdude
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To: beejaa
The government originally awarded benefits to married couples because the government got something extremely valuable back in return - the next generation

The government owns the next generation? Sounds like Communism to me, comrade!

39 posted on 06/04/2008 10:38:23 AM PDT by steve-b (The "intelligent design" hoax is not merely anti-science; it is anti-civilization. --John Derbyshire)
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