It's About Going Back to Genesis for the Sake of Our Future Thing

Dear America,

ugh

here we go.

Joyfully standing at the bully pulpit of the new and fundamentally transformed America, a president must subdue his natural urge to gloat. [oh and how!]  So lets just get right to it and begin with excerpts of President Obama's speech, the speech following the Supreme's decision to make Same-Sex Marriage the law of the land, and thereby allowing five people to decide the fate of gay marriage for all Americans, to be revered in all 50 states, effective immediately:

I know that Americans of good will continue to hold a wide range of views on this issue. Opposition, in some cases, has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs. All of us who welcome today’s news should be mindful of that fact and recognize different viewpoints, revere our deep commitment to religious freedom.

But today should also give us hope that on the many issues with which we grapple, often painfully, real change is possible. Shift in hearts and minds is possible. And those who have come so far on their journey to equality have a responsibility to reach back and help others join them, because for all of our differences, we are one people, stronger together than we could ever be alone. That’s always been our story.

We are big and vast and diverse, a nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, different experiences and stories but bound by the shared ideal that no matter who you are or what you look like, how you started off or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny.

I love how he stipulates that the "opposition" to gay marriage "has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs" only "in some cases;"  and in other cases, we must assume, opposition is what, Mr. President? Just plain old, ordinary, run of the mill, bigotry?

I love how he says, "all of us who welcome today's news should be mindful of that fact and recognize different viewpoints, revere our deep commitment to religious freedom."  It all sounds pretty gracious of him, no?   [He's been waiting for so long....having been FOR it (circa '96), before he had to be against it (circa 2008), before he could be for it again (2012)...takes so much energy, you know, living a lie over and over and over.]

But then we get to a BUT; and you know what they say about the input of a but -- it erases everything you said before it; it becomes meaningless.  And what one truly means to say, and wants to say, is whatever one chooses to say after the BUT.

Did you see what I did there, or no?


And so in this case and after the BUT, the president said this --

"But today should also give us hope...real change is possible.  Shift in hearts and minds is possible.  And those who have come so far on their journey to equality have a responsibility to reach back and help others join them..."  Because surely, it's those people -- those people who cling to their religion (and guns, right), and any other archaic beliefs which seem to fit -- those are the people who require the  hope and change.

I love how the Left only wants to co-exist with the "big and vast and diverse" when all that is big and vast and diverse lies within the Left's domain; in other words, everything that is big and vast and diverse except the conservative, Christian, religious right.  Hell, scrap the conservative and the right, and simply keep it to those who call themselves Christian.

He says, "a nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, different experiences and stories but bound by the shared ideal that no matter who you are or what  you look like, how you started off or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny."   Yeah, unless you actually believe in the Bible, or something.  Unless you actually believe in the cultural creation, with lawful precedence mind you, of traditional marriage, and brought forth with the joining of one man and one woman make.  If you happen to be of THAT background, or THAT experience, then may God help you, right?

Because if you are THAT person -- and quite possibly a florist, a baker, or pizza pie maker -- forget about having any kind of religious liberty.   Matter of fact, forget about having your business stay in business.

Here's a quote going down memory lane -- and now skipping back about seven years:

'It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment, as a way to explain their frustrations.'

Isn't it ironic that back in 2008 -- and long before election night -- the campaigning president-elect gave us the quintessential hint into his psyche; in one sentence, he encapsulated the hot mess of shades to come!  And how about that -- now 2015 --  how nothing has changed and how everything's changed; freakingly interchangeable, the same domestic issues are riddled with an underpinning of arrogance and disgust, then and now.

Now, although he later apologized, this marginalizing of  "the middle" and especially the middle America who clings to things has not ceased, and if anything, has only accelerated.

And about that apology, this is how he put it:

'I said something everybody knows is true, which is there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my home town in Illinois, who are bitter,' he said on a visit to Muncie, Indiana. 'So I said when you're bitter, you turn to what you can count on. So people vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community,' he said. 'Now, I didn't say it as well as I should have. If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that.'

And for anyone who doubted, or held any concern, as to what the president meant when he said, "we are five days away from fundamental transformation" --  and likewise, questioned the intent behind Michelle Obama telling a crowd in Puerto Rico (also while on the campaign trail) things like this:

"he [her husband] is exactly the person he appears to be"

"we are going to have to make sacrifices...

change our conversation....

change our traditions, our history...." 

and "he is the man to do it."

No kidding.

Stealing a comment or two from Chief Justice Roberts, upon his dissent:

Understand well what this dissent is about: It is not about whether, in my judgment, the institution of marriage should be changed to include same-sex couples. It is instead about whether, in our democratic republic, that decision should rest with the people acting through their elected representatives, or with five lawyers who happen to hold commissions authorizing them to resolve legal disputes according to law. The Constitution leaves no doubt about the answer.

The Supreme's are not to write law --  but to interpret the law in order to resolve conflict of that which is already written into law; and precedence is paramount.  And what does precedence show, pray tell?  200 years...2000 years...5000 years...of traditional marriage and family.

And not to mention, that little itty bitty detail of the power to the people and the individual state to decide -- not five lawyers, as the good justice duly noted.  I mean, why didn't they just legalize pot and take away guns and make the call to burn the Bible all at the same time?  But I digress.

Continuing, the Chief Justice grapples with making that shift in heart and mind, lamenting:

 If you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.

Exactly.

The thing is,

marriage is not a right.  And if marriage is not a right, then gay marriage is not a right.

Even though our definition of marriage was at one point protected as between a man and a woman and written into law by the people's house, the courts took it apart and opened the door for a re-address all the way around.

Which begs the question -- 

Why wasn't the "civil union"  enough to declare their love?   

Why did the gay community come after traditional marriage? 

Marriage is not a right, and the court got this wrong.

...Just as healthcare is not a right.

...Just as a balanced meal three times a day is not a right.

Now certainly, there are ways to mediate the differences of experiences; there are ways to promote healthy relationship in mind, body, and soul with a reality that supports all people, of all backgrounds, of all faiths and beliefs, in order to co-exist...and not just co-exist, but affirm true life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.   But that opportunity, through the will and the heart and the compassion of the people, is continually being shut down.  And in it's place -- we get an unfettered government, hopped up on a liberal social justice agenda with judicial activism as backup, along with the malicious intent to change America in every way... from our holidays to our traditions to our history itself. 

And if you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits.  But just don't expect a cake to be baked from a baker who simply can't support a ceremony of  an unholy matrimony according to their own worldview and faith and moveon.org.

We just need to reach back...

and go back to a time when we respected the right, 

the left, 

and that big hefty portion in the middle. 

Because, just as the president said,

 "I know that Americans of good will 

continue to hold 

a wide range of views on this issue."

It's not going to be easy, going back to the egg, beginning brand new.

It's going to require a whole lot of reconciliation.

Perhaps a good vacation from it all...maybe time with a good book.

Summer is a good time to recommit to the things that matter.

Healthy marriages,

Happy families.

Authentic lives of all colors...

Strong community re-organizing.

One Nation, Under God.  

Things are slowly becoming more clear.

It's about going back to Genesis, for the sake of our future.

"And now these three remain:

faith, hope, love.  

But the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

Make it a Good Day, G