Closet Extremist

Cuter than socks on a rooster

So I'm reading through the old blogroll, and come across Marty's latest post, and this made me think of a few things to consider.

This is the part of his post that got me going:

Consider gun laws for a moment. In my state and city, i have the right to purchase and own a firearm. In the state next door, those citizens have a right to purchase and own a firearm. In New York City, no citizen has a right to purchase or own a firearm. It all seems very straightforward, until you cross state lines to try to buy a gun -- you can't -- federal law prohibits that, presumably because you might take it home to New York City, where it would be illegal.

This, despite a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right of all citizens to keep and bear firearms!

So will a Federal Marriage Amendment settle the issue of gay marriage once and for all, or will leaving it up to the states clear things up?

That got me thinking about why the Federal Gummint is likely to persue an anti-gay marriage amendment, and is also likely to never enforce the Second Amendment; it doesn't serve their/its interests to. You see it's all about power and money, and where it lies.

There is a simple, fiscal reason for there to be an anti-gay marriage amendment, and that is that when married couples file their taxes jointly, they pay less than when they file seperately. (I've never been married, so I've never experienced this. If I'm dead wrong, then shoot me in the face with a bazooka, or something.) It's all about the money that the government gets from the taxpayer's, which is where they get the power to change things.

Generally "right-leaning" folks have the benefit of a particular moral stance to their arguments for this amendment, but the fact remains that they are a part of the same beauracracy as the more "left-leaning" folks. The folks on the "left" get to wail and gnash their teeth, pander to their base, and then lose out to the "Evil Republicans" because that's the way the game is played. Both sides know that without the money, they have no political power, so they will do their dance, and the amendment will pass.

As for gun rights, they are not being enforced due to the other type of power; physical force. There is a certain truth to the old wheeze about "Colt made them equal." The beauracracy does not wish to perceive itself as anywhere near equal to the people at large. They are better than everyone else, due to the fact that they are allowing people to create laws that deny them their "Colt." They also have sovereignty over the people who have real "Assault Weapons."

I'm not saying that anyone up there is actively trying to take over the country, but I belive that it makes them feel better to believe that they actually could.

Neither of these "memes" are a good reason for doing or not doing anything, but due to human nature, I can't believe that there's anything else that might happen.

Update: Italic tag now closed all thanks to Susie.

Posted by Johnny - Oh at May 7, 2004 10:51 PM