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Socially Regressive-Republican Bunk

Mr. Levin approaches his subject with the presumption that courts have taken over the process of "making law". Of course, that is a completely and utterly false presumption, based on his (and his ilk's) dislike of the reality that the laws they are trying to force upon each and every American are in violation of higher law (the federal and state constitutions).

It is not the Supreme Court or other higher court's job to affirm and enforce the laws passed by legislators. It is their job to determine if the laws being passed (or which exist from previous generations) are in fact constitutional or not. When they have all the facts laid before them, and can put aside their own prejudices and ideologies (unlike justices like Thomas, Rheinquist, Scalia), they rule on the constitutionality of various legislation. Should they rule in a way that society dislikes, then the people *DO* in fact have recourse, by amending the constitution. A process that is intentionally very difficult, to ensure that current societal whims and prejudices are not constantly altering our founding document.

Take the current effort by the slim majority that want to amend the constitution to relegate marriage to nothing more than opposing genitals being legally recognized as bound together. (As opposed to the alternative true vision of marriage being between two people who deeply love and care about one another and choose to make a life long spiritual, emotional, and legal committment to one another to share and enjoy their lives together, to support and help one another, and to be and become a family together.) But I digress.

The fact is, although the Supreme Court has yet to even consider the constitutionality of laws and state constitution's ban on the recognition of the life long committments of same sex couples, these people ALREADY KNOW that such laws are unconstitutional. So they want to pre-emptively amend the constitution to make sure that an existing constitutional right (to be deemed equal in the ability to marry the person of one's chosing) is revoked. They claim that "activist judges" are finding new "rights" to things like same sex intercourse, and same sex marriage, when in fact they are doing no such thing. They are finding that there is no prohibition against such things, and rights -that belong to everyone-, but are being denied to a specific class and group of people. And, in fact, MOST of these judges that are ruling in favor of gay people's fundamental rights, have been Republican appointees who generally make conservative rulings.

The U.S. Constitution is designed to err on the side of individual rights, freedoms, and liberties, and every amendment (outside of prohibition) has only ensured that more rights and liberties were being protected, including some of the broad reaching amendments such as the 14th, which ensure that ALL people regardless of who they are, are considered equal in the eyes of consitutional rights, liberties, and protections.

The truth of the views of people like Mr. Levin is that they want to be able to impose their own agenda on the whole of the American people, without having to answer to the fundamental protections of the constitution that ensures that we are NOT subject to the unconstitutional whims of the current legislative and executive branches. And yet, the people do have the ability and means to change the highest law of the land to permit such agenda imposition if they so choose. But it takes a super super majority (as it rightly should) to accomplish that. 2/3rds of the House and Senate plus 3/4 of state legislatures.

And lastly, the Supreme Court has been making rulings about fundamental rights and liberties that are protected in our constitution that are quite similar to the rights and liberties that European nations provide to their citizens, and YET somehow THEY are not being destroyed by such rights and liberties. In fact, those nations are thriving; matching and often exceeding the United States, in all measures of progress and success of a nation.

If anything it is the regressive, right wing, fundamentalist, ideologues who are undermining and destroying the advancement of America into the 21st century.