My mom was a Democrat. She's been dead for seven years now so I don't know for sure if she would be a fan of Obama,but she liked Clinton just fine until he was impeached for having extra-marital sex in the Oval Office. She REALLY didn't like that. Mom was a good woman,she was a sweet,compassionate,reasonable well educated and grounded person and I truly,truly lover her and miss her.
Mom was born in the 40's so her being a Democrat seems to have stemmed mostly from JFK (who was more like a classical Republican than modern Democrat). I think JFK was a good man and I think he wouldn't survive in today Democratic party,he wasn't a tool.
I bring this up because of the Chick-Fil-A crapola. I'm not getting into all of that here but I want to go on record with a few things One: Dan Cathy was intentionally taken out of context by CNN about what he actually said to the Baptist Press . CNN has only fanned the flames harder since then (in my opinion).
All Cathy did was answer a question about his faith,that's it. He never said the company won't or doesn't serve or employ someone that fits outside of his definition of traditional marriage. The company's hiring practices aren't based on anyone's sexual orientation.
Anyway,back to my 'point'. My mom was a Democrat but wasn't really Liberal in the sense that you think of it now. She was wholly opposed to abortion,thought food stamps were a terrible thing and felt that only lazy folk used them. I'm not listing my beloved mother's faults here,just laying out who she was in terms of her socio-political views.
So with all of this 'controversy' (manufactured but still a controversy) about same-sex marriage I can't help but wonder if Mom would have been in favor of it. The conclusion I keep coming to is that she probably would be opposed on religious grounds. She wasn't a regular pew-warmer but she did strongly believe in God and held Christian views rooted in her Baptist upbringing,so I can't say that I believe she would have accepted this idea of homosexual persons being allowed to marry. I guess that shows how far to the Left the Dems have drifted (slid) since the day's when my Mom was right there with them on matters of race and war,but I just can't begin to imagine that she'd agree with this.
I 'have' to view these kinds of things through the lens my Mom gave me (my Dad certainly gave me a perspective too but since he and I share a very similar view of many things I don't feel like I 'have' to consider how he feels about this stuff). I don't want to be unable to see the 'compassionate' side of an argument like this so I often use my Mom's views as a filter if I worry that I'm not seeing both sides.
In this argument her view seems to tell me that it's "wrong" (religiously speaking),but I don't agree with what I perceive her view would be.
From the religious perspective this goes against a few Biblical teachings and if we're trying to say that Christians and their many churches should be REQUIRED to accept this and forced to perform marriage ceremonies that outright violate their beliefs then I will fight you tooth and nail. Fortunately this country is founded on Christian principles,but isn't a theocracy. We are free to pursue different ideas and faiths,just so long as they don't harm anyone.
I would include this particular bit of inane bickering over who can be married as being one of those ideas that really doesn't hurt anybody (sorry,feelings don't count).
So here's my way of trying to be compassionate and to try to view this as I think my Mom would: I have no problem with persons of different faiths,nationalities,income brackets,color or GENDER getting married. I don't think we need a law to allow this,we may need to repeal a couple here and there though. I see that as being compassionate but more than that I see it as just being damned human. Mom may not have approved of this but I learned how to see things from a compassionate viewpoint from her.
Kinda funny in a way.
The party my mother identified with is the party that is now the least tolerant and has compassion only for those persons and causes that they can exploit to their own end. Yet here I am,the son of a kind and generous woman that showed great compassion to many but whom probably would not support this particular cause.
The point of all this? For you dear reader,possibly nothing,hopefully a little provoking of thought I suppose,but this was mostly just me writing. This topic was gnawing at me and I needed to explore it and this is a great medium for that.
I'll try for something a little more interesting in my next piece. Probably.
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