Excitement and Disappointment

Hooray for Obama! Shame on California!! As a proud supporter of Barack Obama, I celebrated his victory last night to become the 44th president of the ol' US of A. As great as this is for our country, I can't help but be disappointed by some other elections that occurred yesterday and are still being counted. As many people are aware, Californians voted yesterday on proposition 8, where a yes vote would amend the current Constitution and would attempt to overturn the May 2008 state supreme court decision which allowed same sex couples to be married. As of now, it appears that this proposition will pass, which means that the right same sex couples had will be stripped away and those that utilized their right may see their marriages nullified.

I am not gay, so I really have nothing at stake with this proposition. My right to marry is still available and I could do so freely. I plan to get married soon, as this is something I feel many of us want to experience. A moment in life where your family and friends can share in the joy you share with another individual is special and this ability should be protected. This should be protected for ALL, not just some people.

I find it difficult to comprehend the Yes on 8 viewpoint. Again, I am not gay, I was raised by a Roman-Catholic family and attended catholic school for 12 years. I was raised by a mother and father, which I feel very fortunate for. However, just because my parents were a man and a woman, does not mean that everyone should have this upbringing. Why do so many Christians/Mormans feel that their way of life must be for all? Why do we allow others to force their rhetoric and viewpoints upon us and allow for simple rights to be stepped on? Why is it that a belief in love and spirituality turns people to become so close minded and down right ignorant?
I honestly feel let down by people in my state and country. For a nation that was founded on progressive ideals and evolved from forefathers whom were escaping religious persecution, are we not moving backwords and repeating history? So, in an attempt to rationalize this ignorant view on marriage, I read over some Yes on Proposition 8 propaganda and am offering some suggestions to them. If the goal on preventing same-sex marriage is protecting marriage and the family, then we all have some work to do, as this marriage deal currently has more holes than a wiffle ball.

First, we must eliminate divorce. You say that same-sex marriage will pierce the sanctity of marriage, well I say that divorce is spreading like wildfire to burn down your special marriage. Think about it, with 50% of marriages ending in divorce, this threat to marriage is beyond an outbreak or an epidemic, its a plague! We must act fast however, before this divorce movement keeps increasing. We already see advertising for "quick divorces" or "prenuptial agreements". This all needs to go! I propose that we work on strengthening marriages by enforcing these contracts and if you want out, you will suffer the consequences. Lets add punitive damages to divorce, community service, or even jail time if your marriage lasts less than one year. That will strengthen your precious marriage immediately and will cut into that divorce rate. If we make marriage difficult for everyone, then only people that really want to get married really will. Say you want to marry that rich girl, but she wants a prenup. We say NO to that, as a prenuptial agreement will weaken marriage. Lets be honest, a prenuptial agreement is basically saying: "I love you, right now, but if shit goes down, I don't want you getting my shit!" So if we are already placing conditions on marriage, how do we expect them to succeed and be immune from that dreaded D word? Plus, if we have stiff penalties for divorce, the prenup will disappear as it is, since people won't be marrying for money or a green card if jail time may lie ahead.

Second, we must remove all financial and legal benefits that come with a marriage. Since we are trying to get people to marry that intend to spend the rest of their lives together and procreate (we'll address this further), we must remove any and all benefits that result from a marriage. As far as finances go, we must remove the potential tax breaks, preferential estate tax treatment, social security share of their spouse, tax free health care for the spouse, and lower insurance rates, including automobile and home owners. Removing these financial benefits will lead to strengthening marriage, but we cannot stop there. We must also remove the legal benefits that come with a marriage, including citizenship rights, automatic inheritance rights, husband and wife communication privileges, and hospital viewing rights. Again, by removing all these silly benefits, we will be thinning out all the potential divorces and really solidify the bond that marriage deserves.

Third, we touched on this already, but if you are going to marry, we want to see proof. Since marriage is only supposed to be between a man and a women because it is "natural" or "God's law" then those so fortunate to marry should produce results. We want babies, since we are going to have more and more wars, so if you are going to get married, you need to procreate. Procreation is the foundation of marriage and was what "God" intended for a married couple to do. People have been doing it since forever, so we need to keep this going. If you can't have babies due to a medical issue, then you were not meant to be married. We need a hard and fast rule here, since this is one of the main reasons same-sex couples can't share in marriage. By reducing the amount of sub-par candidates for marriage by ridding the barren, we will again strengthen the marriage bond for people that can start pushing out babies. If you can't procreate, no marriage, simple as that. You can have a civil union though. We will enforce this by contract, which requires the newlyweds to produce a next of kin within two years of their wedding date. If you cannot produce a baby within two years, your marriage license will be revoked and you can qualify for a civil union.

Fourth and finally, we need to ensure that the children you produce experience a proper upbringing. This means that the father must work and only spend Saturdays and Sundays with their children, but the mother can spend all day with them. This will ensure that our children understand how this is the way it must be, since that is how it has been for so long. Mom's make the house and Dad's work to provide for the family. Also, we must ensure that the family is raised with a belief in God, so mandatory church meetings will be held. We cannot allow for more same sex couples to attempt to progress this nation, so we need to foster "positive" environments for these children. Since children are so malleable and have no opinions, we must shape them into the vision that "God" wants, or more importantly we want.

If you are following along, you can already see just how great this new system of marriage will be. We will protect and strengthen marriage, and more importantly, we will stop the desire for same sex couples to marry, as they don't need to be concerned with that. Just think about what great things can come from this.

*** This is a rant and I do not believe in any of these "suggestions", however I do feel that they equate to the extremists views supporters of Prop 8 offer*****