Imposing values on other people

The US Constitution says that all federal laws will be made by a legislative body called the Congress. It also says that each State shall be a republican government, and to the best of my knowledge, each State has its own state legislature charged with making laws for the people of that State.

In the wake of the election on 2 November 2004, the American left is now attempting to claim that the "extreme right-wing" of America has chosen to deny rights to the minority gay population. Let us recall how the issue of gay "rights" even came to the forefront. The Supreme Court of Massachusetts issued a mandate to the State legislature demanding a law which codified that gay "marriage" was a new civil right in Massachusetts. In San Francisco, the mayor decided on his own that the city would begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples wishing to be married and enjoy the priveleges of traditional man/woman marriages.

In 11 States around the country last Tuesday, including socially liberal Oregon, so-called "gay marriage bans" were put in front of voters, and they were approved. It was done for two separate but equivalent reasons. Tradition.

• America is deeply rooted in Christian principles, and marriage is a centuries old concept meaning a union of one man and one woman.
• The manner in which our government operates is such that representative legislative bodies, elected by the people, make laws. Executives and judges do not have the authority shove new law down our throats from high atop their moral high places. Doing so is tyranny, and it was defeated soundly 3 days ago.

It is unfortunate that the left wing of America sees this not as a complete violation of our entire structure of government but instead merely a hate-filled repression of legitimate progress by bigoted and homophobes.