Peter's Bric-a-brac

State of Fear: Paul, it's been a month since our last book club. I don't know if you've been thinking about what you want to post in re Michael Crichton's polemic, but I'd certainly be interested in your thoughts. I have my own, but I'll wait until you've opened things.

Constitutional Law: I really enjoyed Christopher's post regarding the Constitution and how it should be interpreted. Based largely on the bad taste in my mouth after the MA SSM decision, which had no basis in law IMO, I spent some time as a strict originalist. But, thinking about the historical role of judges I feel that the sort of originalism propounded by Justice Scalia is a bit farther than I'm willing to go; judges should be (I feel) the wise men of society who can balance the letter and the spirit of the law. That said, I feel law has become troublingly politicized, particularly due to the balkanization of the US Supreme Court and several high profile legislative battles over Federal Circuit appointees.

Same Sex Marriage: Living in MA, having gone to the only gay wedding to which I've been invited (after much inner conflict), I find that my personal acquaintance with the practice has not significantly impacted my feelings about it as far as I can tell.

I believe marriage is a social construct; that its only meaning is what we as a society imbue it with. As such, I do not accept that "equal marriage" is an inherent right. The question I see the point revolving on is whether we as a society want to weaken the construct sufficiently to allow for same sex couples. Historically there have been far less strict interpretations of what "marriage" means; globally there are very different interpretations on what "marriage" means. I'm not too worked up over the possibility of a definitional change. Although individually I oppose it and vote that way, if society chooses to accept it I'm not going to go about wringing my hands.

I do get worked up, however, with any arguments in favor of SSM that assert a "right to marry" or that focus on logistical (i.e. inheritance, hospital visitation, etc.), rather than definitional aspects of marriage. I'm leary of the assertion of "rights" beyond a basic few, and don't see historical or popular support for the assertion of this particular "right." Since the question, to me, is not one of "rights," the procedure calls for legislative deliberation and popular votes to determine the central question of whether homosexual relationships belong to the marriage construct, with all the social acceptance that membership entails. If society does not believe that, then the government has no place dictating an different position.

I feel that the push to legalize SSM through judicial rather than legislative methods is largely an effort to use the power of government as a method to force a change in the social construct, rather than the more appropriate process of legislating to reconcile the government with what the construct has become. I see this particularly in MA where the legal battle became essentially a public relations method for recognition of the validity of same-sex relationships. It was an anti-populist attempt to compel change in the hearts and minds of the populace, which I see as a poor legal precedent.

I disagree both with the MA and CA SSM decisions; in both cases the courts recognized a right that I don't believe exists, i.e. the "right to marry." Precedence appeals to the end of miscegnation (which, IIRC, were part of the written decisions in both state cases) I think are faulty; you could equally well (to my mind) say the refutation of it as a right is established by minimum age laws, cousin (or sibling) laws, or polyandry laws. I don't know if that makes sense, but my point is simply that using an example of expansion (interracial marriage) to assert a right to marry while ignoring examples of contractions (close-relative marriage) is either disingenuous or illogical.

My Political Philosophy: I generally see myself as a classic conservative in the vein of Edmund Burke. This is neither the conservatism of the current Republican Party, nor the individual rights conservatism that Jesse has propounded. It has more to do with an ideological resistance to change, which in my case is coupled with a distrust of pure reason as a basis for policy. I generally believe that policies already in place are wise, and am pessimistic that changes in policy will lead to intended benefits nor that they will avoid unintended negative consequences. I see an inspiration for this in Burke's principles in supporting the American revolution but rejecting the French revolution. In general, I identify more with the "liberal" wing of the Republican party, and view Bush pere as a better president than either Ronald Reagan or Bush fils.

When asked, rather than Republican or Democrat, I usually identify myself as Communitarian. Like Libertarians, Communitarians find themselves on both sides of the two-party split. But instead of a focus on individual rights and liberties (as in Libertarianism), Communitarianism focuses more on our responsibility to our communities. A result of this is that I feel that political decisions should devolve to the most local community capable of addressing the issue adequately. I am a strong proponent of the "representative" part of our representative democracy (I was recently quite disappointed by the MA legislature's decision to award our Electoral votes for PotUS to the winner of the National popular vote in an attempt to make a populist end run around the Electoral College). I think the changes in the federal government enacted by FDR and LBJ were more bad than good, and that we'd be better off pushing most of the responsibilities the federal government assumed over the past 75 years back down to the states and localities, particularly the social safety net (i.e. health care, social security, unemployment, etc.) I feel that administering it at a political level so far removed from community oversight is a recipe for corruption and inefficiency. Ideally I don't think the federal government should do much other than maintain interstate trade (mostly the interstate highway system) and work out foreign relations (including Defense, which has come to mean Offense, which is a whole different issue). Pretty much all other functions should devolve to at least the states if not the localities.

More Merrill Alums: If anyone has contact with other friends from our Helaman Halls days, please feel free to invite them to the symposium. I didn't spend a lot of time tracking down loose ends, but I'd certainly like to see more voices added to our mix. Furthermore, I'd be open to a discussion of extending membership to spouses or other friends who would like to participate.