[GCFL-discuss] Amendments

[Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies List]

Saturday I dropped off a passenger on a walker at a Roman Catholic Church
in Milwaukee. I noticed a blue sign on the lawn, saying "VOTE NO." I was
quite surprised. A Roman Catholic Church urging a no vote on the
constitutional amendment to tighten the definition of marriage?

Of course, it was no such thing. The church was urging a no vote on the
advisory measure on instituting a death penalty in Wisconsin.

This reveals with exquisite symmetry why the political voting blocs
dearly beloved by political strategists and media pundits are a
self-indulgent myth.

Both items on the ballot this November were tactical moves by the current
Republican majority in the legislature. Both are part and parcel of the
same general strategy. There are however, powerful currents among the
electorate that will lead many people to vote for one, and against the
other, or vice versa, as well as unorthodox reasons to vote for or
against both.

The Roman Catholic church is being consistent in its "pro-life" posture,
although a good number of Catholics will, of course, vote for the death
penalty, and a like number will vote against the marriage amendment, just
as many Catholics use birth control. Not many "gay rights" advocates will
vote YES on the marriage amendment, but a good number of them will
probably vote FOR the death penalty -- all those invisible gay
Republicans who are financially well off, culturally conservative, and
afraid of violent crime.

I'm voting NO on both of course. Wisconsin has gotten along just fine
without a death penalty since the 1850s, and generally had a lower crime
rate than its more homicidal neighbors. And if we need to write a
definition of marriage (which was ordained of G-d, not by the authority
of the state) into the state constitution, then we might as well adopt
amendments to make clear that the sky is blue, and that in this state,
the sun shall rise in the east and set in the west. Our legislators have
displayed such weak faith, putting what G-d has ordained up for a vote in
the first place.

Siarlys