Vandeervecken said:
I see few, on fact issues I consider more important. Gun rights beats it out, and the GOP attack on the 4th amendment as well. After that I think this issue is where the battle against the creeping theocracy is being waged. What issues do you consider more vital?
Tax reform. School choice. Civil liberties. Getting out of Iraq. Preparing for war with Iran. Ending the war on drugs. Balancing the budget. Strict constructionism in the courts. Gay rights. Abortion. Social security reform. Medicare reform. I could continue for paragraphs with issues that are more important than legalizing polygamous marriage...
Vandeervecken said:
In general though I will tell you I see no case where the government is usurping rights that I do not think should be fought.
Doesn't matter if there is but one or none. What matters is the government is usurping rights. Anytime you accede to that in any case you give tacit approval to them doing it in all cases.
The problem is that if politicians fight a trivial issue like this, they have less political capital to affect real change.
Vandeervecken said:
Give an example of what issues you consider more important. Nor would changing the definition of marriage entail all that much change. Nothing that couldn't be done in one bill frankly.
It'd have to be a very long bill, and changing the definition of marriage in this particular way would indeed require a lot of change in nearly every aspect of our laws. A few hypothetical examples I can think of:
A) The leader of an immigrants-rights group decides to marry all of the illegal immigrants in the United States, as well as anyone else in the world who wants to move to the United States. Under current American law, they're now all entitled to pursue US citizenship.
B) An eccentric celebrity marries ten thousand fans, then has an accident. Are they all allowed to visit him/her at the hospital?
C) A group of old-money millionaires decides to strategically marry one another for tax avoidance purposes, thus depriving the federal government of millions of dollars of revenue.
D) A gangster involved in organized crime marries all of his underlings, so none of them can ever be forced to testify against one another.
E) A business owner requires all would-be employees to marry him before taking the job, to take advantage of more lenient labor laws that apply to family members.