Bob Barr, Author of the Defense of Marriage Act, Says The Law Has To Go, But Not Because He Likes Men or Anything Gay Like That
Remember Bob Barr, the U.S. Georgia Representative that somehow became the Libertarian Party’s nominee despite the fact that at one time he was a wacky southern peach conservative who fought against abortion, for the war on drugs and is the author of the Defense of Marriage Act?
Well, it turns out his conversion to libertarianism wasn’t just an election year stunt, as his op-ed in the L.A. Times today states:
“In 2006, when then-Sen. Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, he said, “Decisions about marriage should be left to the states.” He was right then; and as I have come to realize, he is right now in concluding that DOMA has to go. If one truly believes in federalism and the primacy of state government over the federal, DOMA is simply incompatible with those notions.”
Barr is careful to point out that it’s not out of any desire for equality that motivates his reversal of opinion, but rather his commitment to states rights:
“In effect, DOMA’s language reflects one-way federalism: It protects only those states that don’t want to accept a same-sex marriage granted by another state. Moreover, the heterosexual definition of marriage for purposes of federal laws — including, immigration, Social Security survivor rights and veteran’s benefits — has become a de facto club used to limit, if not thwart, the ability of a state to choose to recognize same-sex unions.
Even more so now than in 1996, I believe we need to reduce federal power over the lives of the citizenry and over the prerogatives of the states. It truly is time to get the federal government out of the marriage business. In law and policy, such decisions should be left to the people themselves.”
Now, this argument is a bit of a double-edged sword, depending on what you mean by “such decisions should be left to the people themselves”, since we’ve seen that when it comes to a straight up vote, marriage equality loses at the ballot box. However, if Barr means “the people” to be individual state government’s– legislative, executive and judicial branches working in concert — this is an argument I can get behind.
The fact is, the most obvious solution to the “gay marriage problem” is to get rid of marriage entirely, so far as the state is concerned. If churches want to define the nature of marriage to their parishioners, that’s their Constitutional right. It’s when they extend that definition to the rest of us that it becomes an infringement on others rights.
Unfortunately, the only reason I can think of that Bob Barr would right an op-ed in The Los Angeles Times at this time saying that same-sex marriage should be left up to the will of the people is not actually a desire to see DOMA go, but rather, to give the Yes on 8 crowd a little cover in their own “leave it to the people (read: let the majority decide on the rights of a minority) to decide gay marriage” argument.
Before branding us with the cynical iron, remember– this is the guy who wrote DOMA. Skepticism is warranted.
Color Me Queer………but………..I’m just waiting for the other ball to drop!
Vote Green Party 2012!
Am I the only one who thinks Bob Barr looks like the KFC’s colonel Sanders ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harland_Sanders )? He’s probably just trying to raise his profile and see if he can get some more money from the AFA and ilk.
@Dave: I always thought he looked a lot more like Heinrich Himmler.
Yes, the old “State’s rights” gambit. Let’s reform the Confederate States of America and try that experiment again. I think we should let every State in the Union vote on the rights of all minorities. Let’s revisit the Federal Civil Rights laws and allow State’s to decide the rights of their minority citizens one by one. It was courageous Democratic politician’s that enacted Civil Rights legislation on a national level (thereafter losing the solid south to the GOP). If left to the individual States, especially in the good old south, “Negroes” would be lucky if they did so well as to get “separate but equal” status. Either everyone is free or no one is free. Barr is nothing but a conservative ass wipe and should stay in Georgia.
@Bob R: Yeah I can definitely see that
i think he looks like tennessee williams or joan rivers late husband edgar.
the majority should never be allowed to vote on the rights of a minority. have we not learned that already?
Maybe I give him some Kazakhi cheese that my wife make.
Repeal DOMA now.
For years we’ve heard conservative (and now libertarian) politicians hide behind the argument that “marriage should be left up to the states”. That’s all fine and good EXCEPT that the states can’t define immigration policy, federal income tax laws and hundreds of other rights.
Hiding behind “states rights” is cowardly and denies millions of us the rights we need. Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but the state of Connecticut or a repealed Prop 8 can get us full equality.
@brian krenzer:
“For years we’ve heard conservative (and now libertarian) politicians hide behind the argument that “marriage should be left up to the states”.
Uuuuhhhh, Obama and clan said the same thing…over and over again. Oh that’s right, Obama is a conservative. Not sure why anyone would think he is a liberal.
Seig Heil, Mein hatesfuhrer Barr.
@Bob R: Bob R hit the nail directly on the head. “States’ rights” has always been subterfuge for “let the ignorant, racist masses decide.” It’s amusing to me that even hardcore states’ rights advocates like former Attorney General Ashcroft suddenly seize on, say, the federal Controlled Substances Act when they want to break down the doors of medicinal marijuana clinics in California, where the medicinal use of the drug is legal. States’ rights be damned if it’s done in the holy name of the drug war!
Leave it to the conservatives: only stick to your ideology when it suits your immediate purpose.