When I was in elementary school, I learned about the checks and balances system. Let me see if I can still remember how it worked. There was the Executive Branch . . . In this case, the governor. Nothing that I have read on this subject has mentioned the governor of Massachusetts's opinion of what is going on there, so I'll not discuss him at this time.
The second branch is the Legislative Branch, which consists, in this case, of the Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts. They are the law-making body. They write the proposal (called a "bill"), then the Executive Branch "checks" them by either signing it into law or vetoing the bill. However, even if he vetoes it, the bill can still be passed by a postive vote of a certain percentage (I think 2/3) of the legistlature. This keeps either branch from becoming too powerful.
The third branch of government is the Judicial Branch, or the courts. The job of this branch is to interpret the law. Let me say that again. The courts INTERPRET the law . . . NOT CREATE IT!!! Somewhere along the way, the Massachusetts Supreme Court seems to have forgotten this fact. In their arrogance, they have decided that they, the only branch that is not elected by the people, should have the power to force the state's legislature to pass a law.
How does this affect not only the sanctity of marriage in the United States, but freedom in general? Well, it's like this . . . the Checks and Balances system was put into place to keep any one branch of government from getting too powerful. Ideally, any two of the branches should be able to override the third. Somehow, this isn't working anymore. A state supreme court actually countered the law against partial-birth abortion, which was backed by both Congress andPresident Bush. The judicial branch overturned the ruling of the other two branches! So am I a little worried about the implications of the Massachusetts supreme court "ordering" the legislature to do something? You bet I am!
The worst part of this is that the branch that is overturning the other two branches is the only branch that isn't elected by the people. They are not serving our interests. They are serving their own.
From a religious standpoint, I have recently heard someone say that it won't matter if they legalize gay marriage, as long as they don't force Christian churches to perform the cerimony. This would almost make sense, but for one thing . . . Marriage was created and ordained by God! When we allow marriage that contradicts God's laws, then we are perverting one of God's most precious institutions.
February 5, 2004