Alright! Like all clear thinking, level headed, middle-class Americans, I hold positions that are obviously also held by all other clear thinking, level headed, middle-class Americans. Flag, mother and apple pie for everyone! There are, however, two specific issues which prove the exception. One is a view from the far left, and the other a view from the far right.
Gay Marriage: It seems to me that I have seen enough written about the genetic links for sexual orientation to believe that no one is making a lifestyle choice, but rather responding to an inherited prediliction toward that orientation. While nothing has been conclusively proven either way, I am a firm believer in the precautionary principal, and therefore will accept the idea that chromosomes speak louder than religious bigotry until proven otherwise.
If that is the case, then I must ask myself to define the kind of person that would deny human rights to a group based on their genetic differences. Certainly there was a German approach in the 1930s and 1940s, and a bedsheeted and hooded southern U.S. approach up through the 1960s that would fit the answer.
As a heterosexual on his second marriage, I am somewhat confused as to how a marriage, with all of its rights and obligations and lables, between two people of the same gender, could possibly affect my marriage. Would I have to get a divorce if gays married? Would my son not be allowed to marry a woman? Would I be taxed more? Would the institution of marriage disappear from the face of the Earth? What is the danger, specifically?
If the only answer is, "God finds them abhorant", the we must remember that God also instructed the Jews to "Kill all the Midianites", including their women and children and all their animals. Are there any Midianites left in the world? If so, maybe we should seek them out and slaughter them first before going on to new groups. It has been said that the devils greatest trick was to convince us that he doesn't exist. Personally, after studying the world's religious beliefs, I think the devil's greatest trick was to convince us that he is actually God and that God is actually the devil.
Illegal Aliens: Sorry, but my ancestors broke no laws in coming to America. The native Americans had no immigration laws....not our fault that they didn't. But we do have laws now, and the world is too complex in its human systems to allow for unrestricted borders. It is not a question of immigration, but of illegal immigration!
We don't need a new system for a guest worker program. We already have them in place. The H-2 program allows for foreign construction workers and the H-2A program allows for foreign agricultural workers. But they don't allow for families to accompany the workers, nor for the workers to remain in the U.S. once the specific task for which they were employed is finished.
There is no witch hunt involved, nor is there a racial motivation in wanting to deny rewarding illegal behavior. If more than 90% of the violators are from Hispanic countries, it is not racial motivation to ask that the majority of our effort be made to close our southern borders.
I have seen nothing that would indicate these people flood our borders in order to gain citizenship. They seek jobs in order to send more than $40 billion a year from our economy to theirs. They seek welfare, good and free education, better healthcare....all at our expense. For Bush and the Democrats (a strange alliance indeed) to state that what they are offering is not amnesty is an outright lie. They suggest that the illegal aliens can stay here, keep their jobs, continue getting education, health care and welfare with only a minimal fine, and that they can apply for citizenship (back of the line or not, they are as eligible as anyone who stayed home and played the game by the rules). I see absolutely nothing in that that is not anmesty!
Will businesses shut down if they are deported? If the businesses use illegal aliens as their employee base, then I see nothing about them that makes them an American business. They are simply a business registered in the U.S., with all the perks that come with wrapping their business in our flag, while benefitting the employees of another country. If that's the case...shut them down.
So there you have it....my two radical viewpoints that reach my outer left and right. In most other issues in life, I do try to find the middle, because in reality, the middle is more muddled, as is the truth.
Mike
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