Homosexuality and rights

Speaking of cultural litmus tests (see below), it seems Senator Santorum has stepped right into one: homosexuality. Ben Domenech rises to his defense. I agree with Ben that the Supreme Court should let the Texas law in question stand. As I have noted before, I think the law is stupid but that the people of Texas are capable of handling that themselves if they so choose.

What I disagree with Ben on is the logical consistency of Santorum’s statement. Ben beleives that Santorum’s statement is logically consistent but it is only consistent if you hang everything on the word consensual. If banning consensual activities was unconstitutional then a great many activities would suddenly become legal. So if you parse Santorum’s statement real tight, yes it is logically consistent. But that is not really the issue here. The issue is the Texas law unconstituational because it discriminates against a particular group or, in another way, does the law intrude government into private matters in an inappropriate way. What Ben and the Senator seem to be saying is that if you don’t allow government to ban private acts then moral anarchy break loose. This is what I disagree with because I think it is another slippery slope argument. Instead, I believe that we can choose wich private acts should be prohibited an which should not. With prudence and good judgement we can decide where to draw the line. In the past we have drawn that line to protect soceity and the family from moral corrosion. In fact the list Ben uses points out the line: “bigamy, polygamy, incest, or adultery.” Obviously we can ban bigamy, polygamy, and incest without making adultery illegal because we are doing it right now.

What Santorum has done, in typical GOP fashion, is to create a controversy without touching on the central issue involved. The issue is not whether the Supreme Court views state laws banning consensual acts as unconstitutional but weather the Texas law is an overerach by state government at the expense of people’s rights. Ruling against the Texas law will not create a slipperly slope toward moral anarchy but it would be yet another evisceration of the concept of federalism.