(April 25, 2014 at 6:26 pm)Esquilax Wrote:(April 25, 2014 at 6:06 pm)Heywood Wrote: We would have been better off if the government just stayed out from the start.
Let people be free.....they can accomplish great things if you do.
Which would be a fine sentiment... if the government hadn't already had its hand in this from the start. In both examples.
Like it or not, a great deal of time has elapsed where the official government position endorsed and legitimized homophobia by going all the way up to making homosexuality illegal, in some cases. To say that now all that should simply be retracted still leaves a persecuted minority at the bottom of a rut with no way to climb out of it; you keep mentioning the power of economic pressure as a means of changing this, but you fail to realize that a lot of the time we aren't discussing rational bigots. Yes, some might change under the sway of profit, but for a lot of homophobes this is a moral point, not a pragmatic one; it has as much to do with reality as the rest of their beliefs, and they'll continue to hammer away at that- sometimes in positions of authority over others- forever.
Your position seems to be that it's okay for the government to dig the hole, but not for them to help anyone out of that hole, and that's just bizarre.
Negative.
I am all for government help as long as it doesn't involve hurting someone else(by impinging on their personal freedom) in the process.
You on the other hand are content with making supreme value judgments on who should be harmed and when by the government.
You want to force that baker into making a cake for a wedding he doesn't recognize. You are the oppressor....not me.
