| In its July 15 decision to repeal a Massachusetts marriage law prohibiting out-of-state persons from marriages in the Commonwealth which would be illegal in their home states, our state Senators took a voice vote, allowing them to escape going on record with their individual conclusions on this question, a question at the center of our most momentous human understandings. News reports indicated that not even one state senator raised any debate prior to the voice vote. The political expedience of this maneuver by which our senators evaded any and all accountability to the people who elected them is completely unacceptable in a government of the people. Marriage is the oldest and most vital social institution in human history, and the most critical to the nurture of children. Its implied and logical definition necessitates that it be comprised of only one man and one woman. By redefining this institution without regard to the gender of its participants, Massachusetts has embarked on a radical social experiment, using our established system of laws, our historic shared cultural agreements and the future prospects of our children as its risk capital. When our elected officials attempt to modify the very foundations of our human societal structures, and in doing so are unwilling to engage in thorough debate or a public record of their individual votes, they have reached an unprecedented pinnacle of imperial arrogance and need to be replaced by legislators who understand that transparent accountability to the citizens who elect them, combined with honest and deliberate consideration of critical legal precedent are the highest responsibilities of their office. Matt Kinnaman Le |
