Marriage Re-defined

Do you know Marsha Ternus, Mark Cady, Michael Streit, David Wiggins, Daryl Hecht, Brent Appel, and David Baker? Probably not, but you should, as these are the seven unelected officials who chose to legislate from the bench and be YOUR voice on the matter of marriage here in Iowa.

Marriage in Iowa has now been formally defined, or redefined, by the Iowa Supreme Court, not our legislature and not we the people. Sorry, but this is not their intended place in the grand scheme of things. For those of us who remember anything about the very basics of how our government was designed and laid out, it is the legislature that writes law. The fact is that the job of the judiciary is merely to interpret the law, as it was written. We seem to have more and more judges across this nation today who are only more than eager to legislate from the bench, whether it be for political gain, “political correctness”, or merely political ignorance.

I often hear our nation referred to as a “democracy”. For those who are unsure, the definition of a democracy is: 1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. 2. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power. 3. Majority rule. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)

However, what we really are is a “republic”, though the terms democracy and republic are virtually identical today. The definition of a republic is: A state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them. (The Random House Dictionary)

I find it odd that none of the definitions I found included; a government of “the squeaky wheel gets the oil” or where the courts are the supreme power. They both do state, however, the power of the people “through” their elected representatives. So, I guess if we feel that those we’ve elected to represent us are not hearing us, acknowledging us, or truly representing us, at both the state and federal levels, then it’s time to replace them with those who will. This goes for our judges as well.

Though we do not actually elect our judges, we do have the opportunity to vote on their retention. Do we, as taxpayers, wish to continue paying the six-figure incomes of judges who contradict our ideology and impose their own? I will vote NO on every judge until they see fit to tell us where they actually stand ideologically and would recommend that you do the same. By the way, three of the seven Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled against traditional marriage are up for retention in 2010 and will be on our ballots.

Many of our elected officials serving in Des Moines today have received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the anti-traditional family movement and are now beholden to them with their votes, or lack of, in the State House. Campaign funds have been strategically targeted here in our state from activists in Hollywood, CA; New York, NY; Denver, CO; Harvard, MA; and Miami, FL, to name but a few. Right here in our backyard, Andrew Wenthe, of the Iowa House, received over $13,000 from homosexual activists for his last campaign and the powerful Senate Majority Leader, Mike Gronstal, who repeatedly shot down any effort to raise a marriage amendment, received over $11,000, to name only a couple. The Iowa Democratic Party received over $51,000. (www.LetUsVoteIowa.org)

Based on the current state of our State Legislature, the amount of money being poured out by same-sex marriage proponents, the manipulation of public opinion by the media and Hollywood, and the very loud and offensive condemnation of any and all critics of same-sex marriage, I doubt much will be accomplished legislatively to protect the traditional family here in Iowa short of a Constitutional Convention held by “we the people” in 2010.

Iowa was specifically targeted by the anti-traditional family movement, as they knew just how difficult a process it is to make any constitutional changes here and believe that the people of our state who oppose their agenda being forced upon us lack the fortitude to see it through. Guess it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work…