United Liberty

With California Proposition 8’s passage, we have seen a huge surge of discontent with government and the supposed “democratic” system.

Prop. 8’s passage strikes to the core of the problem with “group rights”. It demonstrates the dangers of moving away from our Republic governance and calls into question the true role of our government altogether.

A marriage should be between consenting adults, performed and executed in whatever arrangement they deem appropriate.

We all have the individual right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Regardless of our sexual orientation.

If you just lost your right to marry the person you love, why continue to recognize the government as a mandatory third party in your relationship?

It seems that the wholesale libertarian message doesn’t resonate with the American people. Many liberal Democrats love civil liberties and liberal groups such as the ACLU have been powerful forces for advancing same-sex marriage rights, prisoner rights, free speech and religious freedom. Conservative Republicans don’t so much like the whole civil liberties thing, and, given their blatant corporate advocacy, are no longer legitimate advocates of economic freedom.

As I write this, I am in a dorm room on the campus of California State University, in Hayward, California. There is cheering, chanting, yelling, cars honking and even fireworks. There is a heavy black population here, and I can imagine that for them there is much elation in the predictable and yet also surprising election of Barack Obama as president.

The possibility of a collective African American uplift puts a smile on my face. I grew up with the spectre of racism, attending the Seattle Public Schools during a period of enforced racial quotas and weathered racial anger at a heavily black middle school. To be able to point and say that we have finally fully broken open the race barrier is amazing. Maybe we’re finally fulfilling Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.

As Martin posted earlier, the Price campaign has sent out an email attacking B.J. and Ron Paul. The email was, quite frankly, dishonest, offensive, and divisive. Clearly, Congressman Price has ignored the call of his party’s Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama, for an elevated trans-partisan discourse and approach to politics.

It turns out that Congressman David Price (B.J. Lawson’s opponent in this year’s election) has some very good friends in the financial sector, which has given his campaigns a whopping $637,000 over his career, more than 2/3 of which has come from financial PACs. Just this year, the financial sector has contributed about $57,000 to his campaign, with 65% coming from PACs.

As a candidate for school board in the Bay Area suburb of Hayward, Maribel Heredia may not seem like a figure of national importance. However, Heredia’s presence in the Hayward school board race is a demonstration of the push for change that has taken the country by storm.