Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Boehner Continues to defend DOMA

You'd think that the president of the United States declaring a law unconstitutional would effectively put a stop to defense of said law. Not so, in John Boehner's case. He said the following during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network:

"I really am disappointed in the president in his actions.  But if the president won’t defend DOMA, then you’ll see the House of Representatives defend our actions in passing a bill that frankly passed overwhelmingly."

Majority Leader Eric Cantor said that Congress's decision on further defense of DOMA will be reached sometime this week. Boehner seems to believe that the decision to keep defending DOMA is in the bag. It probably is, too. Republicans hold the majority of the House of Representatives, and I won't be surprised if later this week a statement is put out affirming the decision to keep defending DOMA.

What strikes me as...oh, I don't know...CRAZY, is that Boehner is using his new position of power to more or less push his religion on everyone. Rachel Maddow blogged about it earlier today. In his first speech as House Speaker, he called the national debt a "moral threat" to society. He blames Obama solely for the current $14.1 trillion debt, conveniently forgetting to mention that under President Bush's 8-year-term, the debt tripled. TRIPLED. His first speech as House Speaker was also given to the National Religious Broadcasters convention. He continually mentions God, but I thought we had a lovely little thing called separation of church and state. He claims that we have a religious obligation to stop the mounting debt of this country. What about those who don't believe in Christianity? Or those that don't believe in religion at all? What is their obligation to the national debt? Do they not have a say, or does their opinion matter at all?

Though he's not talking about gay rights in this speech, the fact that it was given at a religious convention bothers me. If Boehner continues in this vein, it's only a matter of time before he turns his pulpit toward the "sin" of homosexuality. I personally am worried about what will come in the future. How can our nation be governed fairly if one set of views is slanted to win every time? Do the people of America really have a say in how these matters are handled?

The full text of Boehner's speech can be found here.

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