Don't Defend DOMA, Replace DOMA

by: John Howard

Tue Mar 01, 2011 at 17:40:23 PM EST

DOMA should not be defended, it should be replaced with the three laws of the Egg and Sperm Civil Union Compromise which would truly defend marriage:

1) Prohibit the conception of children by any means other than the union of unmodified gametes.
2) Protect the inherent right of marriage to conceive offspring.
3) Federally recognize state Civil Unions that are defined as "marriage minus conception rights"

The first two laws are urgently necessary and would have immediate and long term benefits, and would avoid the costs and ethical issues of allowing use of modified gametes and regulating conception rights separately from marriage. It is really hard to justify not enacting those first two laws, or delay enacting them one minute.

The third law is not as necessary as far as society is concerned, but it still would have immediate and long term benefits for society, and would certainly benefit the thousands of same sex couples that lack recognition right now, and I think would be fair and compassionate and not cost too much.

DOMA could be replaced with the Egg and Sperm Civil Union Compromise with minimal deliberation and would achieve Obama's and the vast majority's goals in a principled and permanent and politically acceptable way:

1) It would preserve marriage as a man and a woman in every state.
2) It would allow Civil Unions in every state with fully equal protections and rights, except of course for the right to procreate genetically-related offspring together.
3) It would prohibit cloning, human-animal children, and producing children for same-sex couples using lab created artificial sperm or egg.

Who in Congress is going to say that any of those laws would be bad? That the status quo is better? I know that the libertarians at GOProud are going to object, but they'll look silly doing so.

Libertarianism getting some more attention

by: John Howard

Tue Jan 04, 2011 at 11:08:19 AM EST

Yet libertarianism is more internally consistent than the Democratic or Republican platforms. There's no inherent reason that free-marketers and social conservatives should be allied under the Republican umbrella, except that it makes for a powerful coalition. Libertarianism lies crosswise to the partisan split, giving its adherents a kind of freethinker, outcast status. This can be especially attractive for young people. "When I was 19, libertarianism was an argument for being awesome," says Will Wilkinson, a former Cato scholar who now blogs at The Economist. It's about flouting convention and rejecting authority-the political equivalent of getting an eyebrow ring. It's also an excuse to indulge your most selfish instincts. But you don't have to call it "selfishness."

Nice.  I like how it noted that "Libertarianism lies crosswise to the partisan split" - that is why I started this blog: to lie crosswise to the partisan split, opposite Libertarianism.  I'm glad to see that people are starting to see how Libertarians have hijacked both parties and prevented responsible government.  They want dysfunction, they want gridlock.  It's just like James Watson (Libertarian Transhumanist eugenicist discoverer of DNA) said when he set up a bioethics panel: "I wanted a group that would talk and talk and never get anything done. And if they did do something, I wanted them to get it wrong. I wanted as its head Shirley Temple Black."

Massachusetts Ballot Questions: No, Yes, Yes

by: John Howard

Fri Oct 29, 2010 at 15:42:51 PM EST

Question 1) If people can afford expensive wines and vodkas, they can afford to contribute a few dollars of that excess wealth.  If people can't afford a fifty cent tax, they shouldn't be buying $10 beer.  The argument that this will cause people to drive to New Hampshire is arguing against the wrong villain, and could be mitigated with higher gas taxes and a uniform federal sales tax that gets entirely returned to the state (but kept on internet transactions).  People driving to an adjacent state to avoid sales taxes is an unacceptable situation and should be done away with.  So, vote NO on Question One, we should keep collecting the retail sales tax on alcohol.

Q2) The current 40B laws apparently result in bad projects being built, out of the town's and state's control.  We should replace the current development-focused "affordable housing" laws with an overall change in development practices toward local sustainable low-driving living and preserving Massachusetts farming capacity, while also addressing affordable housing needs and work for builders.  So, vote YES on Two to gut the law and start the process of localizing our economy and reducing our oil consumption.

Q3) Ahh, Question Three, this one is my favorite Ballot Question.  The first thing to remember about these ballot questions is that they aren't Constitutional Amendments that would be hard to change if they are passed, these are all "just laws" and they can be changed easily, trivially, by the legislature.  WE DON'T HAVE TO GO TO 3% IF Q3 PASSES.  Sorry to shout, but it is important that everyone hears me, it seems people don't know that we can make it so that the tax is only lowered to 5%.  That'd mean a $1B revenue drop, which presents a great opportunity to raise the gas tax, which needs to be done to reduce driving, and reduce the size of government, which also needs to be done to reduce driving.  So vote YES on Three and cause this chain of events to improve the tax structure.

Hello Phoenix readers

by: John Howard

Thu Oct 07, 2010 at 15:56:48 PM EST

Contrary to the metaphorical "purple mass group" that Chris Faraone's article is about, this website is NOT "libertarian" nor is it ever to just "smack someone down", it is not even just for "independents", though it is indeed non-partisan.  It is for non-libertarian Democrats and Republicans to find common ground and fight off the influence of libertarians on their parties to pursue responsible government and stewardship of the planet for the next generation.
 

Alternet article on "Bizarre Libertarian Plan"

by: John Howard

Sat Sep 04, 2010 at 16:57:51 PM EST

Update: Just discovered another Darnovsky must-read: Libertarians Diss Democracy

How to help transgendered people right now

by: John Howard

Thu May 13, 2010 at 14:20:30 PM EST

Well, there is a way to resolve this, by specifying in the bill that nothing in the bill implies a right to conceive children as the other gender, and affirming that people only have the right to conceive children as the sex which they would be most likely able to conceive children as, using their natural unmodified genes.

This would achieve all the stated aims of the trans activists, while eliminating fears about being forced to pay for transgender reproduction and surgery.

It is worth a try, is it not?

There is no place for Transhumanism in Conservativism

by: John Howard

Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 14:39:02 PM EST

Conservatism (Latin: conservare, "to preserve") is a political attitude that advocates institutions and traditional practices that have developed organically, thus emphasizing stability and continuity.

Transhumanism is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of science and technology to improve human mental and physical characteristics and capacities. The movement regards aspects of the human condition, such as disability, suffering, disease, aging, and involuntary death as unnecessary and undesirable. Transhumanists look to biotechnologies and other emerging technologies for these purposes.

Celebrate the WTF New Year

by: John Howard

Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 19:36:48 PM EST

An Alphabetic Year consists of 26 Alphabetic Months, which are each 26 Days, so a new Alphabetic Year happens every 676 days. After this one Thursday, February 4th, the next one will be Monday, Dec 12 2011.  (We decided to skip Alphabetic "Weeks", since 26 days is close to a lunar month.   Alpha Centuries last approximately 48 years (that is, 48 orbits around the Sun), and Alpha Millenia last about 1251 years.  The next Alphabetic New Century (FKAAA:) is on Mon Nov 25 2024, so make your New Alphabetic Century breakfast reservations now.

Use Stimulus To Increase Local Farming Capacity

by: John Howard

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 21:05:49 PM EST

Yawn ..

by: nomad943

Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 08:25:35 AM EST

The Purple Marriage Compromise

by: John Howard

Tue Dec 22, 2009 at 17:23:16 PM EST

In The Egg and Sperm Civil Union Compromise, the extreme libertarians that have been protracting the debate are rejected, while the responsible moderates in each party agree to what they both agree about already: preserving marriage as a man and a woman while giving the same benefits and protections to same-sex couples in the form of Civil Unions.  

Been there, tried that, you say?  True, and there are many reasons why we haven't been able to settle on Civil Unions already, and courts in California and Massachusetts have ruled they are an unconstitutional solution.  The key to the Egg and Sperm Civil Union Compromise that makes it different from a "marriage-in-all-but-name" Civil Union compromise is (of course) the "Egg and Sperm" part that would prohibit attempting to procreate with someone of the same sex using the couple's genes, and then explicitly defining the Civil Unions as not having a right to procreate together, using the couple's genes.  Also, for good measure, the Compromise would affirm in federal law that all marriages must protect the right of the couple to procreate together, using the couple's own genes.  This preserves marriage's essential meaning as well as reserves it for a man and a woman, while federally recognizing uniform state civil unions that provide all the other rights and benefits.

Dale Carrico is no James Kunstler

by: John Howard

Fri Dec 18, 2009 at 18:14:57 PM EST

The Future's So Bright You Gotta Wear Shades

I truly worry that this was the last chance for democratic push-back, peer-to-peer, against a neo-feudal corporate-militarist America, and we may well be blowing it, right here, right now. Longer term education-agitation-organization may well be trending away from Movement Republicanism, not to mention ramifying pressures from post-US-hegemonic players, but it isn't at all clear that unraveling neoliberal ponzi-schemes, climate change, energy and resource descent, arms proliferation, global destabilization among other planetary problems are waiting around to give us time to become sane enough soon enough to be equal to them. The United States could very easily become in no time flat a hopelessly diseased distressed debt-ridden ignorant gun-saturated backwater neck deep in Greenhouse storms and riven with ethnic and ideological hatreds, while moneyed and incumbent interests retreat to walled enclaves with their loot to watch the show and pluck out the occasionally photogenic slave.

That's Dale echoing Kunstler, but with his peer-to-peer/education fixation replacing Kunster's clarion call for "re-scaling, re-localizing, and de-globalizing of our daily activities."

Below the flip, Dale eviscerates the Transhumanists for contributing to this epic collapse, but um, not really...

Why is it green?

by: John Howard

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 20:34:59 PM EST

Update:  On the advice of Brock at RMG, I'm trying out this deep Tyrian purple.  He says PurpleMassGroup should be purple, and if this color was good enough for Roman Emperors and early Christian art, it should fit a blog dedicated to respect for government authority and morality.  I'm still not sure its a good idea, but at least on a blog it's just a number (Hex: #66023C), it's not derived from snails like the real Tyrian Purple dye was.

Update: Patrick had a good idea to try blue on the left, red on the right, and maybe purple in the middle, to convey the bi-partisan mission.  I like this, it looks like the French flag and also like a pair of pants I had in 1976.  Update to this update: Patrick actually suggested red on the left and blue on the right, I think to signify the meeting in the middle between conservative Democrats in the right of their party and responsible Republicans in the left of their party.  So now it's not like the French flag anymore, as far as I can tell, Red White Blue vertical stripes aren't any country's flag, they're just "red, white, and blue."

Welcome to Purple Mass Group

by: John Howard

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 18:07:42 PM EST

Socially conservative Democrats and socially responsible Republicans are encouraged to join PurpleMassGroup and forge a new coalition to bring Americans together to address the urgent issues that we face as a nation.  Of course, PurpleMassGroup will be focused on Massachusetts, but not selfishly focused on it.  Massachusetts has neighbors and exists in a larger community, just like people do.

So if you are an anti-government, anti-healthcare, anti-regulation, free market, globalist Republican, or an anti-government, laws-off-my-body, reproductive freedom, anti-regulation, globalist Democrat, there is a party, a candidate, and a blog, just for you (you'll have plenty of inherent contradictions to argue about, so get started right away).  But if you believe in social responsibility and individual responsibility, respect government and religion and traditional morality, and are sick of extremists paralyzing the parties with outrageous and embarrassing positions and want the parties to come together to get things done, then this blog is for you.

About

by: John Howard

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 18:25:17 PM EST

But this blog isn't a campaign blog or intended to be about me, it is not mere self-promotion.  This blog is intended to and will hopefully grow with more editors and contributors who want to meet in the responsible middle ground and form a community dedicated to bringing the two parties together by rejecting libertarian extremism.  As the editor, I will try to promote posts to the front page that come from that responsible perspective and seek to form that middle ground.  Libertarians are welcome to join in the discussion, but probably won't be promoted to the front page very often, unless it shows they're trying.