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Governing morality

Judging from what the Michigan and U.S. Senate and House have been up to lately, the "down with big government" facade of right-wing Republicans is crumbling to reveal a much more sinister agenda.
Let's start with the motorcycle helmet law. Senator Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) sponsored a repeal of the law in the Michigan Senate on the grounds that it was a matter of personal liberty and bad for the economy, since motor cycling tourists wishing to feel the wind in their hair shun Michigan in favor of surrounding helmet-optional states.
Other Republicans echoed this sentiment. "I've always believed that less government is better government," Sen. Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) told the Oakland Press. "In this case, to me, this issue appeals to the side of me that believes in liberty, freedom and the importance of keeping government out of the role of acting as the nanny state."
How noble. Yet both of these men supported the anti-gay marriage amendment. In fact, Cropsey was the first in line to try to ram this discriminatory amendment through the Senate. Attorney General Mike Cox's recent opinion that the amendment strips health insurance from children and families in Michigan highlights its real impact on Michigan's economy. Not only that, it directly inserts government into the private lives of Michigan citizens and their agreements with employers. Make no mistake, this amendment may have been falsely sold to voters as a way to "protect marriage," but its originators fully intended for it to be a punitive measure against gays and lesbians for being immoral in their eyes.
This makes their sentiments about personal freedom and rejection of the "nanny state" ring pretty hollow.
The Senate also passed a bill mandating schools set aside time for the pledge of allegiance, further destroying their credibility on the "nanny state" issue.
But just in case you feared Michigan's House reps were busy with things like health care for children and stabilizing the economy and improving education, fear not. Republican Rep. Tom Casperson of Escanaba has introduced a bill that would allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed on government property. In fact, Rep. Jack Hoogendyk (R-Kalamazoo), who asked for Cox to issue his opinion on domestic partner benefits and crowed happily about its negative impact on same-sex partner headed families, was on tour across Michigan this week with a heaping stone monument of the commandments sent from Alabama.
Make no mistake, this effort to display the Ten Commandments on public property is an effort to erode the separation of church and state and push a religious right agenda that seeks to de-secularize law and mandate that we all live by biblical principles – or at least the biblical principles valued by the right (feeding the poor and loving your neighbor don't apply).
If you have any doubt, refer to the case of Terri Schiavo who has become an unwitting poster girl for the right. Schiavo's case is a complicated and heartbreaking one. There are no easy answers. However, she has become a pawn in a dangerous political game in which President Bush and the United States Congress personally intervened and passed a law in hopes of circumventing the numerous court rulings that found Schiavo, after 15 years living in what doctors call a "persistent vegetative state," has the right to die.
The Congress and the President took this unprecedented move in order to propagate what they call "a culture of life" which also includes opposition to abortion, stem cell research, and recognition of same-sex relationships as anything other than sinful.
What could possibly be more illustrative of a "nanny state" mentality than this case? Republicans espouse the value of less government intrusion in personal lives, yet consistently rule against that very principle whenever allowing someone personal freedom contradicts the right wing morality agenda. The LGBT community has been subjected to this for years, but recent events show that the right isn't content to stop there. The connection between LGBT rights and human rights has always been clear to us, and the rest of the country ignores recent developments at their peril. We shudder, however, at how far they'll succeed in going before people take notice and act.

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