Posted on 05/29/2015 4:57:59 AM PDT by Nextrush
The words of the former New York Governor and Democrat icon Mario Cuomo rang out loud and clear some 30 years ago.
"I am personally opposed to abortion but" would pretty much sum up Cuomo's message.
Yesterday that message was echoed on the issue of gay marriage by the Republican governor of North Carolina in a statement entitled "Governor McCrory defends Constitution". Governor Pat McCrory noted his own 'sincerely held religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman'.
But then we got this:
"Whether it is the president, governor, mayor, a law enforcement officer, or magistrate, no public official who voluntarily swears to support and defend the Constitution and to discharge all duties of their office should be exempt from upholding that oath; therefore I will veto Senate Bill 2."
We haven't even got a Supreme Court ruling yet, but Governor McCrory has already defined gay marriage as "Constitutional" with his words and defined anyone refusing to participate in gay marriage as an opponent of the Constitution.
Word from North Carolina is that majorities exist to override the governor's veto on this kind of legislation, but the truth is that North Carolina lacks the kind of religious freedom law to protect bakers and florists and so on that ended up being blocked in Indiana and Arkansas earlier this year. This legislation does not address those issues.
Earlier this year Governor McCrory claimed North Carolina didn't need such a religious freedom law and its obvious that the legislature has fallen back on this legislation that only applies to government employees like magistrates, elected officials etc. etc. in its own feeble attempt to claim its fighting the threat to the First Amendment posed by gay marriage legalization.
The hard truth in the end is that any law passed will end up with the judiciary where it faces almost certain annihilation.
We are left with the harsh reality that the consequences of gay marriage involve marginalization of its opponents as not just opponents of the Constitution as Governor McCrory stated, but as haters, racists and bigots, the equivalent of KKK and Nazis.
This justifies the measures already taken against its opponents like Brendan Eich of Mozilla, the florist, the baker and others plus the repression and persecution to come that really is a violation of our Constitution and its First Amendment guarantees.
This whole issue which I don't debate on religious or moral grounds (religion and morality are irrelevant in the minds of most people anyway) brings into those nations legalizing gay marriage a repressive system that gives those who believe in traditional religious or moral values status like Jews in the early days of Nazi rule in Germany or African-Americans in the days of "Jim Crow" in this country.
My vision of what America should be looks like a place where a religious person could say "GAY PEOPLE WILL GO TO HELL" and where a gay person could say "RELIGIOUS PEOPLE SHOULD GO TO HELL" but the LGBT actvists, the Democrats and Republicans of the Uniparty, the corporate elites will have none of that. You can get away with saying the latter, but not the former and with that there goes our First Amendment.
This country is on a course to an ever deepening tyranny and I will not be silent about it.
Our First Amendment was trampled on when I was growing up in regards to broadcasting with the political application of the Fairness Doctrine.
I remember the Jewish editor of "Broadcasting" magazine defending the free speech of a Fundamentalist Christian preacher whose radio station was shut down by the FCC on Fairness Doctrine grounds.
America was working then, the Fairness Doctrine died during the Reagan years.
Based on what has transpired in other countries where gay marriage is legal and what has already transpired in this county, I don't see the major political parties working to protect freedom right now.
I support Ted Cruz for President, but hardly anyone else with an R next to their name or anyone with a D next to their name.
I wish there was some meaningful and organized resistance but I guess we'll just have to wait for that to unfold.
Acceptance that I can't change other people or the situation, Acceptance that I need to keep working on changing myself seem like good options.
I don't support gay marriage, but I'm not a religious advocate. I guess I'm the Jew who said he followed Jesus and went to a church in Germany back in 1933, but they wrote "Jew" on the window of his business anyway.
I used to be a conservative religious person, I am trying to sober up from the drunken activities of my past. Frankly, I do sense that some conservative religious folks need a "spiritual overhaul" in their lives.
When I was a religious conservative a friend told me I was a "drunk". It took me twenty years to figure out he was right.
The sobered up drunk Glenn Beck and I agree on the need to know who we are, the truth about ourselves and work the 12 Steps.
I humbly suggest religious conservatives consider those notions at this moment in time........
The evil mayor of Asheville flew the “rainbow” flag over the city...
To quote Mrs. Slocum, “Weak as water, weak as water!”
Seriously? That's what you think of us?
Perhaps someone can educate me. Did the governor actually swear to support and defend the US Constitution, or was he referring to the North Carolina Constitution? If it’s the latter, is homosexual marriage protected by the North Carolina Constitution?
Yet another GOP coward.
The guy talks like “the law” is this unstoppable force that all must bow down to.
What happened to the consent of the governed? What happened to the will of the people being the law of the land?
No, this guy took the cowardly way out and hid behind “the law”. Is the law our master, to be obeyed in any and all cases. Didn’t Lt. Calley simply follow the law in Vietnam?
At what point to men stand up to fascism? Do we wait until the boxcars are loaded with “climate deniers” or filled with those who deny sodomy?
Yes, yet another GOP coward gets smoked out.
Did the governor actually swear to support and defend the US Constitution, or was he referring to the North Carolina Constitution?
******************
For what it’s worth.........
snip
North Carolina Retirement Systems Laws
Constitution of North Carolina
ARTICLE III Executive
Sec. 4. Oath of office for Governor.
The Governor, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall, before
any Justice of the Supreme Court, take an oath or affirmation that he will
support the Constitution and laws of the United States and of the State of
North Carolina, and that he will faithfully perform the duties pertaining to
the office of Governor.
https://www.nctreasurer.com/2011Lawbook/nccartiii/nccartiii-4.htm
Just think. There was a time when liberals (rightly) fought for the right of Nazis to march through Skokie, a community with Holocaust survivors. If the 1st Amendment doesn’t protect the right to offend someone, it’s meaningless. Likewise if it doesn’t protect a person’s right to not engage in particular expression, like baking a gay themed cake.
[What happened to the consent of the governed? What happened to the will of the people being the law of the land?]
When Conservatives allowed progressives to take over the education system, the first course to go was Civics. Three generations of Social Studies produced what we have today - a population who hasn’t a clue about our republic.
Those of us who remain must rise up and let our voices be heard before we are silenced.
Do you think any public school student has read or discussed these quotes by our Founding Fathers?
* Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. - George Washington
* Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases. - John Adams
* All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. - Thomas Jefferson
* Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. - John Quincy Adams
* Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power. - James Madison
Am I supposed to feel politically correct guilty over ‘stereotyping’ for what I wrote???????
Since my writing frankly I’m tearful over past experiences in my own life and I hope I’m not ‘dumping’ my experience on sane and sober people.
But I do think based on some of the name calling and rage (other than the ‘trolls’) I see on this site, there may be people who have a common experience of being “drunk” and religiously conservative like me reading the words.
I’m sorry if you feel offended. I defend your right to be who you are and believe what you believe. I just have to take my beliefs in a different direction right now where I try to avoid anger with others and consider where I’m wrong in any given situation.
Even here where the rising intolerance of LGBT activists and their allies in media, government and business stand out like a sore thumb, I’m always willing to consider any harm I may have done to LGBT people in my past.
I do that to stay sober so I don’t return to my ‘bottles’.
I remember Skokie when I was a kid and was relieved when Westboro Baptist won (all but Scalia) several years ago at the Supreme Court.
The First Amendment protects even the worst and most vile speech.
One side note, my “neighbor” Al Snyder, who sued Westboro as ‘the father of a Marine’ revealed another side of his life after he lost the case.
Snyder told Philadelphia lawyer and cable news commentator Michael Smerconish that HE WAS GAY......
YES, THE GUY THAT SUED WESTBORO BAPTIST AS THE MARINE’S FATHER DID NOT REVEAL HE WAS GAY WHILE THE CASE WAS IN THE COURT SYSTEM.
If I were gay, Westboro’s language would have enraged me too like Mr. Snyder often appeared on television during the case.
But in his rage, Snyder forgot our Constitution’s true meaning.
I asked, because I was hoping you’d clarify. Your answer didn’t clear anything up.
Whatever it is you’re dealing with, pulling away from God can only make it harder, and that much more painful.
You can recognize and condemn sinful behavior, without condemning those afflicted with sinful desires. It can be difficult, and I suspect most of us fall short of that goal. Every last one of us is a sinner. If we can’t label certain behaviors as sinful because that would hurt the feelings of people engaging in those sins, then I guess there is no such thing as sin at all. Everything goes. That’s where we’re headed, and I refuse to go along with it.
Sorry if homosexuals are traumatized by my nonparticipation in their sinful lifestyle. We’re all sinners, but we don’t all try to legislate our temptations toward sin into mandated sinful behavior by all of society. If my strong stand on this issue makes me “drunk,” then I’d like to buy a round for the house.
My growing up experience 40 plus years ago was consuming adult beverages sometimes to stumbling intoxication, experimenting with inhalants like paint thinner and at other times listening to radio preachers pour it on about politics and social issues with words like “fags” and “queers” and “homos” coming out of their mouths.
I didn’t think much about it at the big secular university I went to in the big city when the guys in my dorm confronted the ‘fag’ who lived among us and intimidated him off the floor.
When I was in the religious fellowship I didn’t think much about the girl who was disconnected and looking for connection with the opposite sex, ending up finding love with another girl and becoming a left-wing activist.
I guess I was just as disconnected as she was. I didn’t know what to say back then, I have learned much in recent years.
Believe you me, God is the answer and the core beliefs of Christianity I learned from radio preachers, parachurch groups, my own churches of choice over the years are not wrong, especially about sex.
The Good Book says ‘do as the religious leaders say, not as they do’.
I have seen a lot of bad doing over the years by folks claiming to follow Jesus and a lot of it was sexual misconduct. It hurt me and confused me until I was exposed to the notion of myself being a ‘drunk’ as described in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous”.
I was an officer of a church at one time and all the time I was like Paul the ‘greatest of the Pharisees’, a living hypocrite dying in my shame and guilt.
I needed an overhaul in my attitude about sex in recent years. I have some common experience with many LGBT folks in my attitudes about sex, even though I am heterosexual.
Being angry and blaming others like alcoholics do has been my experience over the years. I must inventory my past and current experiences now to consider where I was wrong.
I see a lot of that alcoholic like anger and rage in this forum by God. Some from trolls, but some reflecting a deep disconnection from God deep in the souls of those posting the nasty stuff.
I honestly believe that many Conservative Christians can be emotional and intellectual about their faith, but don’t take the literal actions required, the literal living of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.
Michael Card wrote a song about 35 years ago “I Have Decided” where he says ‘being good is just a fable, I just can’t cause I’m not able, gonna leave it to the Lord’.
When I work the 12 Steps as an addict-drunk, I acknowledge the façade of looking good on the outside as a ‘born-again Christian’ was a lie, I strive because I’m not perfect to surrender every moment, every thought, every look at other people, every word I speak or write to my Higher Power.
Pretty awesome how liberalism turns people into brownshirts requiring others to go to reeducation camps so they do not feel ashamed
The RINO bastard McCrory is not even from North Carolina. He’s from Ohio. Hopefully the state legislature has the votes to override this Obama ass kisser’s veto.
The State Senate has overriden the veto. The State House could do the same, it a passed initially with enough votes to do so.
The Republican legislators got to look good with their symbolic move which the courts will end up shooting down.
I have no problem with their move but it won’t stop prosecution and persecution of those opposed to homosexuality that is emerging in our society.
The legislature chose not to send legislation to Republican Governor Pat McCrory addressing private businesses and individuals opposed to gay marriage. McCrory claimed no such legislation was needed earlier this year.
He’s been there at least since HS so I’m not sure how relevant it is that he was initially raised in Ohio.
Democrat swine Mike Easley and Jim Hunt were native to the state.
The problem goes beyond personalities and party labels.
Big business will not allow First Amendment freedom of religion to exist in matters related to gay marriage and they pull the strings.
When Tim Cook of Apple and Cummins the truck engine maker, the business backed NCAA and so on spoke up Indiana’s Republican governor (Mike Pence) and legislative leaders backed down on a religious freedom law.
North Carolina has its share of big corporate entities as well. GOP legislative leaders in Georgia backed away from a religious freedom law earlier this year in a state with big corporate headquarters like those of Coke and UPS.
In Arkansas when the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and the state biggest business (one of the biggest in the world) expressed its concern for “inclusion” Republican governor Asa Hutchinson and Republican legislative leaders backed down on a religious freedom law there.
It was said when a religious freedom law was vetoed by then Republican Governor Jan Brewer in Arizona last year that a big business with lots of corporate sponsorship called the NFL was applying pressure. Mitt Romney of the business as well as political world tweeted against the bill.
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