I am including in this category LGBTQ citizens because regardless of the type of minority, any democracy is only as great as how it treats its minorities.
If one takes a long view of history, looking back and seeing the progress we have made as a nation is at the same time impressive and sad.
Since our founding we can point to and be proud of the end of slavery, women getting the right to vote, an end to child labor, the Civil Rights Movement, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the more recent acceptance of LGBTQ in the military and same sex marriage.
But we can also be sad, because on some level the nation that enshrined in its Declaration Of Independence that everyone was created equal and had the same rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, should not have had to take such a long and arduous path to accomplish each of those over 2.5 centuries.
For a government to be truly of the people, for the people, and by the people, it has no higher moral duty than to make sure that every citizen is treated equally in the eyes of the law.
There was a very good reason that we have always had a separation of church and state. Tomorrow someone could start a religion that was against people with blonde hair, and then suddenly you could have small business owners saying that it is against their religious beliefs to serve blonde customers. We must continue to be hyper vigilant to make sure our citizens are being treated equally.
The bottom line is that we as a nation may not be above such petty fights and arguments over our differences, but our federal government must absolutely be above them and do the right thing and treat everyone the same. I don’t care where you pee, or who you sleep with at night, or who you marry.
As long as you are a law abiding citizen and aren’t impinging on someone else’s life or liberty to pursue their happiness, then by all means pursue your own happiness.
Perry Waag 