AT MY CORE - Political Beliefs

This post is about my core political beliefs.

1. Totalitarian vs Free society

In a totalitarian society (government) you CANNOT do anything that is NOT APPROVED by the government.

In a free society, anyone (citizens, local government, state government, federal government) can DO ANYTHING that is NOT FORBIDDEN BY LAW; especially the national constitution. Also, the citizens have a say on the laws, directly or by representation.

2. U.S. Democratic Republic

We are a free society, with the U.S. Constitution the OVERRIDING law-of-the-land.

Citizens and local/state/federal governments can do anything that is NOT forbidden by the U.S. Constitution or law. And our Constitution gives specific powers to the federal government as well as imposing restrictions. And we (citizens) have a say on the law by direct vote or election of our representatives to government legislative bodies.

3. U.S. Society

Our society has a pact, enumerated in the U.S. Constitution, to obey the law-of-the-land. Which means we cannot just to anything we want. We are agreeing to restrict TOTAL freedom for the sake of our society.

You cannot have a society without restrictions. ALL societies of ANY type have restrictions on its members. This is why the 'states rights' group is wrong in believing that state laws override federal law.
___________________

These reasons are why, as an example, I believe that laws like California's Prop-8 anti-gay marriage law ARE unconstitutional. This law is the imposition of a one sects religious belief on all citizens of California which is unconstitutional because it violates separation of church-state (using law to impose a religious belief), equal treatment under the law, and human rights.

Note that Prop-8 is ONLY unconstitutional because it makes no provision for gay marriage under another name (such as Civil Unions) that would give gays the equal rights and privileges that other citizens enjoy.