To: ChicagoGuy
There probably aren't as of this moment. But this amendment isn't just for today - its FOREVER. It forever precludes states from making up their own minds on this issue. If you really want to impose all the views of a majority of states onto each of the other states, there's no reason to keep calling us the United STATES of America. Look, I appreciate the federalist point you're making. I agree, more local government is better 90 percent of the time. But this issue isn't really one that belongs in the legislative sphere. That's a critical distinction.
Governments at any level are not empowered to do absolutely anything they want. There are boundaries. The Constitution established some. If the entire nation agrees on another and wants an amendment, that is utterly Constitutional, and totally within the federalist ideal.
I'm not upset that my state might be constrained from deciding to call "cats" "dogs" either. Sure it's more limiting in a purely theoretical way. But its not imposing a limit that means anything of significance to self-government, or states-rights.
To: Snuffington
My point here is that there are so many 'fair weather federalists'. They say they want a smaller, weaker federal government, but then when a small, weak federal government doesn't give them the exact result they want on every issue, they suddenly want a big, strong federal government to impose their desired result upon everyone else.
"I'm not upset that my state might be constrained from deciding to call "cats" "dogs" either. Sure it's more limiting in a purely theoretical way." Just because you don't care if your state is constrained on this issue doesn't mean that the residents of other states don't care. If for some reason the people of Vermont or Hawaii decide that same-sex marriage is OK in their state, why should the residents of other states get to say no? The glory of having 50 different states is that if you prefer the laws of another state, you can move there. But if the federal government gets involved in imposing the will of the other states onto each individual state, we've eliminated one of the benefits of our system.
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