I got this today from my dearest friend Jayson. It is so incredibly well put and to the point i had to share it with everyone. I know most anyone that reads my blog has the same P.O.V. that i do, but if you don't, this might help you to expand your horizons and take a second to think about what it is he is talking about
*hugs*
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Friends,

Have you heard the horrible news? Bush wants to amend our US Constitution to ban same-sex marriages!!

''After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization,'' the president said in urging Congress to approve such an amendment. ''Their action has created confusion on an issue that requires clarity.''

Marriage cannot be severed from its ''cultural, religious and natural'' roots, Bush said in the White House's Roosevelt Room. It was a statement that was sure to please his conservative backers.

I urge all of you to write your Senators and Representatives to not amend our most precious document in this manner. Remember, this is a government "by the people, for the people, of the people." We cannot let Bush change our Constitution to be oppressive. Have we not learned anything from our history? Bush says that marriage between one man and one woman is "the most fundamental institution of civilization." Lest we not forgot, slavery was also a "fundamental institution of civilization."

If there is nothing else we learn from history, we learn this. Progress does not happen without change. Our society is based on progress. We nurture new ideas. We encourage the fathering of innovations. THAT, my friends, is THE fundamental institution of our civilization, the acceptance of change-albeit sometimes with blood, sweat, and tears. Our system of government was a radical idea when it was developed. (And frankly, still is rather radical. There's no other country really like it.) Our system of governement allows us to voice our concerns. Passivity did not win the American Revolution. Passivity did not free the slaves. Passivity did not give women the right to vote. All of these things, mind you, (slavery, women as property, citizenship reserved for white males) were all justified by "traditionalism." We cannot allow Bush to hault progress in the name of "traditionalism." He is OUR President. He works for us. We ARE NOT his political pawns. Remember Rosa Parks? You CAN make a difference.

A while back I was sitting on my couch and a thought crossed my mind. The thought was this. What does it mean to be free? What is freedom? Wouldn't anarchy be the truest form of freedom, ie: the abolishment of all laws, "every man for himself," just the laws of nature, like the wild beasts of the field? Are they not "free"? The anwer that I came up with was this. And, I must say, it seems the most logical. Freedom is a system of government that has laws that are designed to protect the rights of individuals, to protect the health and safety of its society. In contrast, a "non-free" society has laws that protect the government and oppress it's citizenry. For example, there are laws that forbid murder and theivery. The reason is obvious. We have a right to live and to property. Virtually every law from speed limits to OSHA to the imfamous smoking-ban is derived form the basic concept of the protection of fundemental human rights, health and safety. If this be the case then, I have to wonder whose rights, health and/or safey is violated by the marriage of two people of the same gender? President Bush will still have all the rights and responsibilities of marriage if there were same-sex marriages. Therefore, if no one's rights, health and/or safety is violated through the installment of same-sex marriages, then a ban of such marriages is a violation of the inherent definition of freedom. It is a law of oppression, not a law of protection.

Remember, we put our Legislators and Government Officials into office. They work for us. We need to let them know how we feel. We need to let them know what we want. As virtually all police cars say, "To protect and to serve." Let them do just that, protect our rights and serve our needs. They are called public servants after all.

Best Wishes,

Jason Cruse