The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Your View

October 4, 2012

Your View: Those who value liberty should vote no

By Leland C. McCormick, Mankato

To those who oppose same-sex marriage, I ask you to consider the following:

On what is your opposition based?

If it is on religious grounds, then why should one religion tell others what to do?

Nothing would require any religious group to perform such ceremonies. But this amendment would prevent those religious organizations which are not opposed to such marriages from performing them.

Of course, there is already a law in Minnesota that prevents such ceremonies. An amendment would prevent that law from ever being changed.

Is your faith so weak that what others do threatens it?

Freedom of religion means that all individuals are free to believe whatever they choose, but they are not free to force those beliefs on others.

Those who are not opposed to same-sex marriage have no desire to force others to accept their beliefs. They desire simply to have the same rights as those others. They do not understand why their marriage would threaten yours.

If your opposition is based more on your idea of democracy, remember that this country is a republic, not a pure democracy where a simple majority rules. If that were the case, then why does every state get equal representation in the U.S. Senate?

John Adams warned of the “tyranny of the majority” in 1788, and de Tocqueville popularized the phrase in his classic “Democracy in America” published in 1835.

If you truly believe in individual liberty, then you will vote no on this amendment.



 

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