Any fellow conservatives/conservatarians that have a good reason they are that way? One reason for me is that I don't think sexuality should be a partisan (or in any way a political) movement. I also believe that the word "marriage" historically means the coming together of a male & female to start a family & that marriage shouldn't be state-issued. (But before I tell you more: what do you have to say?) ~ SM
The thing is, if sexuality wasn't brought into political light, we'd still be in the 50's and 60's pre-Stonewall, where you could be arrested for being gay and you can forget about being accepted as trans. Republicans today don't care about LGBT people, to put it lightly. Many of these people don't want us to even have job discrimination protection, or housing protection, or allowing trans people to use the correct bathrooms. Lots of evangelical people still think being gay is a disease that can be cured. Most right wing groups rely on hate-mongering to get their points across. I hope I'm not coming off as too aggressive. I see you're new to the site, so welcome! I do know there are some like-minded people to you here.
A question should be: does the government have the right, responsibility and duty to regulate such things as marriage, and if it does, then shouldn't such regulations pass constitutional muster whenever the government moves to restrict or regulate any practice?
I think the problem with the marriage thing is that marriage isn't just a religious/social deal- it does affect a lot of things you can do in our society. It affects taxes, visitation rights, and so many other things. Why shouldn't marriage be a political issue?
I am conservative on some issues and liberal on others. I don't pigeonhole myself with political labels. One issue where I don't waiver, however, is same-sex marriage. As long as marriage is going to provide the legal benefits that it does, then it should be acceptable to any couple, regardless of gender. Furthermore, religious institutions should be free to decide what kind marriages they will preside over--some churches do perform same-sex marriages, or at least recognize them.
Republicans are being made bad in the media. My parents and my boyfriend's mom are both conservative Republicans. They both are socially libertarian but fiscally conservative. Why should the government (state and federal) take more than 55% of my parents pay. The two nuts running on the Dems side (a murderer and a Marxist) wants to give 'free' stuff to people. Sorry, when 45% of people DO NOT pay taxes, who will pay?? $15 an hour minium wage? My god...my uncle just graduated with a degree in computer engineering and he got a job that pays $16/hour and some no educated burger order taker wants $15/ hour...jeez, my uncle could get $30/hour....and INFLATION will really be bad.
*raises hand* I wanna know who's the murderer on the Dems side. Anyway, and totally not on topic: I really wish economics courses were mandatory at the high school and collegiate level.
Tbh, real conservatives in the past (around the Cold War era and probably before then) were the Constitutional conservatives. They were even against joining NATO, Vietnam War, and Korean War, since they overreached the constitutional boundaries. In the words of Ron Paul, I think the Republican Party has lost its way. Oh and btw, marriage shouldn't even be a gov't issue.
I get called a conservative Democrat nowadays because I dare say that Bernie Sanders' agenda wouldn't even get through a Democratic Congress. Remember how hard a time it was getting the Affordable Care Act passed? :dry:
Unfortunately, sexuality is a partisan issue. As long as the Conservatives are trying to deny me equal rights simply because of my sexuality, I could never support them of vote for them.
Between liberal and conservative, I'm probably closer to the latter, especially on economic issues. I think a free-market economy is much more beneficial to everyone and that government interference should only be applied in certain cases. I also despise all this exaggerated political correctness that's been going around in the West. I see a lot of guys wanting to shut down any differing opinion that might hurt their precious feelings. On social issues, however, I think I'm quite liberal-abortion, drug use etc. I don't care what you do with your life, as long you don't bother me. I also favour gay marriage, but, honestly, I wouldn't care if we had to call them civil unions. Just gimme the same rights (taxes, health-related policies) as everyone else.
I'm a recovering Republican. I realized that the GOP is never going to get it regarding spending, war, not regulating morality...I'm a right libertarian now.
I'm a bit of both. On LGBT issues, I'm 100% liberal on. However, on things like immigration I am conservative on. I think it is possible to be pro-LGBTQ and identify as a conservative.
I tend to lean very far right on many issues. I also think marriage is a religious ceremony between a man and a woman and that homosexuals can have a legal civil union and with all the benefits of a normal marriage.
I have mixed feelings about this. I agree with the sentiment, but... Marriage usually falls under the scope of the 10th Amendment where the right to issue marriage licenses is not statutorily given to the federal government, nor prohibited to the states. States are free to do what they may with it. However, by the same token, gay marriages authorized by competent jurisdictions (i.e. states and countries) should not have been barred from being recognized by the federal government and other states via the Defense of Marriage Act since it encroached upon states' autonomy to determine the standards of their marriage licenses and was an affront to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the US Constitution. That said, the federal government does have a duty to ensure states don't restrict the rights and freedoms of citizens, including the right to marry a person regardless of their race (and, later, sex). This comes through an interpretation of the US Constitution known as the incorporation doctrine where basically protections of the Constitution against abuses by the federal government also apply to the state governments , who, implicitly by the 10th Amendment, can regulate marriages. While I can agree that marriage has traditionally been more of a social construct and contact, it is also a legal contract between two parties and it is the government's responsibility to enforce contracts through the legal system. Civil marriage is essentially like filing a patent (tangent: patents are, incidentally, fully restricted by Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 and Amendment 10 to the federal government). That said, what irks me of some paleo-neo (yes, it's an oxymoron, but only because of how moronic and hypocritical some of these people are) conservatives is that the notion that the states and federal government should not be in the marriage business was only adopted when gay marriage seemed like a real possibility. They are like a kid that destroys a toy factory because other kids that are not like him will get to play with the same toy he has. But, hey, that didn't stop them from trying to encroach on the actual Constitution and limit marriage recognition at the expense of states' rights like DOMA did.
