What didn't happen when the Canadian government announced gay marriage

The American Enterprise Institute ^ | June 30, 2003 | David Frum

[Huber]

Those who do not study history...

[Calpernia]

Ping

[madprof98]

But it's just FREEDOM, isn't it??? That's what we hear on FreeRepublic whenever the topics of marriage/family come up. All that matters is me, me, and me. As if only the Democrats had been corrupted by the "revolutions" of the '60s and '70s.

[July 4th]

Those who compare America to ancient Rome have it backwards. While the rest of the world fills with immoral behavior, we will be the ones to defend all that is good. The Supreme Court decision last week was an aberration. Gay marriage is much further off in this country than the Gay Pride paraders last weekend would have us believe.

[D. Miles]

Men and women approach marriage with the idea if this doesn't work we will just move on! No wonder traditional marriage is in shambles, and now throw gay marriage into the mix? Within the next 50 yrs marriage will be a word that doesn't appear in any dictionary, nor on any lawbook. It'll just be say three magic words click your heels twice and move on when ready!

[Dog Gone]

I really do not care if gay couples sprinkle confetti and champagne over themselves and declare themselves married. I don't even care if some liberal church declares them to be so.

These folks can do whatever they like, and so long as it doesn't affect me, I'm merely disgusted. There's a very long list of things that disgust me, but I can live with.

But it's the practical matters that concern me. This would toss the legal system on its head. Property rights, community property, spousal priviliges, etc. Not to mention the effects on the insurance industry and social security.

It's one thing for gays to contractually commit between themselves. It's a far different thing for the rest of us to be forced to accept it and pay for it.

[OpusatFR]

Could it be that the ~Hate Crimes~ statute in Canada chills dissent?

Scarey isn't it?

[Huber]

Those who compare America to ancient Rome have it backwards. While the rest of the world fills with immoral behavior, we will be the ones to defend all that is good. The Supreme Court decision last week was an aberration.

I wish I could share your optimism. What part of the country are you writing from? I'm in a midsized city in the South, and it's feeling very Roman around here.

[BikerNYC]

You have to believe that unmarried cohabitation is wrong, even when heterosexuals do it.

This war ain't gonna be won. Did you read Bill Safire's column the other day? He said that heterosexual marriage needs some competition and will do better because of it. "I used to fret about same-sex marriage. Maybe competition from responsible gays would revive opposite-sex marriage," he said. And, "Rather than wring our hands and cry "abomination!", believers in family values should take up the challenge and repair our own house." I was surprised.

[Huber]

These folks can do whatever they like, and so long as it doesn't affect me, I'm merely disgusted. There's a very long list of things that disgust me, but I can live with. But it's the practical matters that concern me.

Practical matters include the increase in the cost of medical insurance, the societal costs of developmental effects on children growing up without a mother and a father, the costs of censoring and rewriting public school textbooks that depict traditional marriage...The list can go on.

The practical effects of this level of societal upheaval should not be understated.

[irish guard]

So "Hosers" I mean homos can now connect hoses in Hoserland.....guess what, the United States is not far behind. The churches will never object here in the U.S. Many of their brethren are themselves homos. Politicians of all sorts here in the U.S. are neutered for fear of pc backlash in the press. Nothing will stop this from occurring here. Soon we too will be like the Hosers to the north of us.......watching hoses go where they don't belong and incapable of rounding up any meaningful support for the side of normalcy. These are scary times.

[F16Fighter]

"Could it be that the ~Hate Crimes~ statute in Canada chills dissent?"

Poignant observation...

The fix was in.

[JOHANNES801]

I didnt used to hate hommos,but I do now.Im sick of their in your face attitude.

[puroresu]

I wish I was as optimistic as you, but we're on a snowball rolling downhill. Unless something radical happens to turn things around, the west is doomed. The future belongs to Islam and to the far east nations (China, Japan, etc.).

We're a little further behind Canada and most European countries on the road to ruin. Gay marriage, the abortion industry, gun control, speech codes, socialized medicine, and confiscatory taxation are all much more deeply infected into those places than here. But we have the sickness, and it will kill us as surely as it will kill them.

Islam will take Europe in a century or so. I expect China to move to the right as we move leftward. They've already dumped pure socialism. The East Asian countries will retain their social integrity and become more socially conservative in the next 100 years. By 2100, we'll be third world, Europe will be gone as a cultural entity, and China & Japan will be the center of world power.

[Huber]

The churches will never object here in the U.S.

Some churches will...Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), Southern Baptist, the conservative Anglican Churches that report up to the Bishop of Singapore(?) and many others. It's not a coincidence that the old mainline denominations are declining in membership. The question is why are conservatives staying on and continuing to fund the old churches that have given up on Christianity and moral leadership? Is it because we are so attached to stone arches and ivy that we choose our religious affiliation on the basis of architecture?

[F16Fighter]

In 1982, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau forced through a radical rewrite of the Canadian constitution that put vast new powers into the hands of the courts. The powers were all the greater because the new constitution was for all practical purposes unamendable -- meaning that if the courts did something, it would be virtually impossible for anybody to undo it.

Leave it up to the self-absorbed elitist French -- even the arrogant Canadian version -- to have ALL things their way, and d@mn the people.

Amazingly, Canadians continue to elect Frenchmen..

[Huber]

Amazingly, Canadians continue to elect Frenchmen..

...and adopt the Rousseauean philosophy that goes along with them - with predictable consequences.

[Huber]

Islam will take Europe in a century or so. I expect China to move to the right as we move leftward. They've already dumped pure socialism. The East Asian countries will retain their social integrity and become more socially conservative in the next 100 years. By 2100, we'll be third world, Europe will be gone as a cultural entity, and China & Japan will be the center of world power.

Actually Africa is quickly becoming more Christian than Europe, so who knows...

[F16Fighter]

As long as we are socially and morally diametrically opposed with different ideas of what America "should be," gays and conservatives will be enemies in a large sense.

Freeper 'OpusatFR ' has already suggested that 'Hate Crimes' statutes "chill dissent" in Canada where it is strongly enforced, while it's obvious that the militant gay movement is pushing hard (no pun intended) to have it enforced to the same degree here in America as well.

[F16Fighter]

"...and adopt the Rousseauean philosophy that goes along with them - with predictable consequences."

Heh...