Two Opinions: Government Regulation of Gay Marriage | the Failure of Affirmative Action

There should be no laws regulating what gay people can do in their own private lives. This is not a federal or state issue this is a human issue. People who believe in limited government and individual liberty scoff at the idea of a centralized power having control over their personal lives.

I suggest that any laws regarding marriage between straight people or gay people are taken off the federal and state codes. The move to ban gay marriage is perpetrated by religious fundamentalists. Religious fundamentalism should have no say in the laws of this country. The founding fathers put in place a separation between church and state for this very reason.

I don't see much of a role for federal or state governments in regards to the issue of gay or heterosexual marriage. There are a few small exceptions such as being in regards to a power of attorney, inheritance rights, and child visitation rights. Married couple should be insured that they cannot be barred from seeing her children, inheriting their spouses finances, or being able to make a life or death decision for their loved one.

The Failure of Affirmative Action:

Race should not be a factor in college admissions. Colleges should accept students based on their academic qualifications. The danger of affirmative action is that it promotes lesser qualified people based on something as arbitrary as their skin color. This means that the quality of the professions suffers as well. For example, it is essential that the medical doctors in this country are held to the high standard. If one of these doctors had sub par grades it was still able to get in the medical school because of the race what are the ramifications of this once this doctor begins his practice?

Next, consider Law school. Imagine if your attorney didn't get accepted in the Harvard based on his/her qualifications but because of their skin color. How confident would you feel about their ability to provide legal service to. This is the real life affect of affirmative action. This is the socially sanctioned lowering of standards that should never be allowed to take place on college campuses or in the professional realm.

It is important for one who feels that they are being held down by society to take a deep look within themselves and to see whether they are creating their own self-fulfilling prophecy. It is the ultimate failure in life to have a victimization complex. Life is much more complete for a person when they have an inner sense of security and a belief in their own self efficacy. When one says that they need affirmative action to get through life there only insulting themselves.