Matt Wrote:
I think that government should recognize civil unions for polygamists. My attitude is buyer beware. People are free to eat 3 burgers a day, every day, for the rest of their lives but I dont think that engaging in such behavior would be healthy. In general people should be free to do as they please as long as they dont interfere with the freedoms of others. There may be exceptions to this. For example, I think that bestiality should never be allowed. I think this has covered your questions.
Matt, it seems that you are coming at it from a very libertarian perspective. Simply put, we should respect the freedom of others, even if what they do with that freedom drives us crazy or, to some here, makes us sick.
You are right, I am quite often, right in line with you on that one. I would rather have too much freedom than not enough. I would rather spend most of my time shaking my head at the asinine things people think of to do with themselves rather than shaking my head as I remember the freedoms we used to have but gave up.
Here's where I run into trouble though....
Our society, our country...is based on things...ideals, values, morals, things that we as a whole hold dear. Now one of those, is freedom...and it is the biggest one. Thats why you'll find me on certain days willing to agree with you that we should let civil unions between as many people as want them to be recognized...let the businesses and hospitals and schools and courts and banks and everything else that would be drastically effected by such an idea figure it out as they go along....
But the more conservative part of me says that we have, at many times in our society, made decisions for that very reason, that have drastically changed, and often harmed our society. Changing it irrevocably, often for the worst.
When we say, "Sure, things have been done THIS way in our country since its inception...but now we're going to do it this way and see how it turns out..." we might have nothing but the best intentions at heart...but our best intentions do not always pan out to be what is best for our nation in the long run.
It is a lovely idea to say that freedom is complete and total and all-encompasing...but I have to wonder how close total freedom is to total anarchy.
No, I'm not saying civil unions=anarchy.
But I am saying that in an organized society that works and survives not everyone gets to get what they want all the time. I wonder and worry what would happen to our society if we began the precident of saying, "Oh...you feel you are being treated unfairly? Well quick, lets change the way the United States has been run since its creation in order to appease you."
My questions and concerns really have very little to do with a like or dislike, approval or disapproval of the gay lifestyle...and everything to do with what I feel is a very healthy skepticism of making decisions based upon social pressures without fully discussing the potential consequences.
Look at this board. No one can discuss the issue without it coming down to, "gays are evil" or "you're really a closet ***."
To be honest, I respect the right of both sides of this debate to hold those opinions and to say whatever they want...but neither are a serious discussion about how a decision like recognizing civil unions for same sex couples (or groups of people!) would change our nation.
Neither are compelling reasons why we should or should not...
This doesn't mean that I am against civil unions - or for them for that matter, only that I would like to hear people discuss the potential positives and negatives...and I am always reading and looking for opinions on this from both sides of the spectrum.
