Letters: Gay marriage overblown issue
After North Carolina voted to ban gay marriage, comedian Lewis Black appeared on Piers Morgan’s CNN show to comment on the law.
His interview was preceded by a video segment of one of his 1996 routines, during which he ridiculed the amount of effort being given then to banning gay marriage.
Black stated gay marriage, “Is No. 50 on the list of things that Americans should be worried about, right behind whether we eat too much garlic as a nation.”
The following are some of the things I think Americans should be concerned about:
- The retirement of the “baby-boomer” generation is about to explode, and none of our federal “trust funds” contain anything but federal debt paper, which is simply a demand on future taxpayers.
- We are in a severe economic slowdown because of the fragile state of investment finance, which came about because of the failure of regulators to properly monitor financial institutions and for which no quick or lasting remedy can be found.
- Millions of Americans face financial disaster should they suffer a serious illness or injury, or find themselves wrongfully accused of a crime.
- A very large segment of the American populace is credulous enough to go to war on nothing more than the word of a president and trusted pundits. What’s more, we have a “system” of government that allows such things to happen.
In spite of these rather serious problems, a large number of Americans still think gay marriage should be a major presidential campaign issue.
To give some perspective on this, I would like Americans to imagine that we can travel across time and use this power to go back and observe the original constitutional convention, with a delegation from 2012 participating.
We see a group of solemn men engaged in animated, intellectual debate. We hear Benjamin Franklin state, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,” while someone echoes Thomas Jefferson by stating “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.”
Then someone from the 2012 delegation pipes up and says, “Hey! We gotta have a provision that bans gay marriage! Otherwise the country will be doomed! DOOMED, I tell ya!”
The room falls silent. Franklin, Washington and the rest of the founders turn and face the 2012 delegation. They have looks of shock and bewilderment on their faces.
But then their expressions fade to looks of patient indulgence, as the 2012 delegation is quietly ushered from the room.
And as each delegate makes his exit, he is handed a giant lollipop and given a kick in the seat of his pants.
Wayne L. Parker
technical writer
Greensburg