Gay Marriage and Post Modern Debate in America

Recently, Rod Dreher of the Dallas News wrote about the problems with public discussions of issues in our society. In his case, the issue was Gay Marriage. He wrote, "To [liberal secularist writer Damon Linker], my argument looks like faith-based special pleading. Likewise, his rationale struck me as little more than emotivism — the idea that something is true because it feels right. We talked past each other, not only because neither of us can agree on what constitutes the Good, both public and private, but also because — indeed, especially because — we cannot agree on how to determine the Good. Because moral reasoning in our postmodern culture is largely incoherent, the Linkers and the Drehers are doomed to remain mutually incomprehensible — which, said philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, helps explain the shrillness of contemporary public debate."

The problem he identifies is real. But he clearly misunderstands the reason for the problem. What he seems to be suggesting is that there has been a paradigm shift in the cultural assumptions in the last few decades, and as a result, there is a split between those who understand the old paradigm (he calls them “Traditionalists”) and those who embrace the new (secular liberals).

But there has been no paradigm shift, there has only been a number of generations of Americans born who have not been educated in the basics of American history, our political system and values.

Secular liberalism is not some new philosophy based on assumptions alien to traditional values. It is simply an aged out version of 60's radicalism, which itself was merely the acting out of male teenage sex hormones set loose by the coming of age of a lot of teenagers, the so-called "Baby Boomers," during a period of unprecedented affluence. Male teenagers have always thought they were smarter than their elders, and the elders usually either ignored or throttled their silly exuberance. However, in the 60's the fathers, the aptly titled "Greatest Generation," refused to discipline their children, the Baby Boomers.

The generations since then have not been educated any better, and with the Baby Boomers comprise what I call the Ignorati Class.

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And, nota bene, this Class extends well beyond secular liberals to include many of the orthodox religious, evangelicals, west coast liberals, east coast liberals, conservatives or what have you. Whatever the personal persuasion may be, none of the Ignorati Class is capable of even the most basic reasoning about any important issue today.

For example, Gay Marriage is not a hard issue if a few basic points about the function of debate and voting in a free society are understood.

First, we are a Republic. That means we vote on any given issue, and let the chips fall where they may. As such, voting is not about self-esteem, self-importance, having your voice heard, etc, and it is definitely not about winning. It is about a procedure whereby people who differ can peacefully conclude a controversy and move on to other things. In many ways, this voting thing is a very poor system. However, as has been well remarked, it is poor except for all the other systems.

So in a Republic such as ours, the Gay Marriage controversy can be resolved quite peacefully by simply putting the matter to a vote. No acrimony or divisiveness need apply. The losing side will be permitted to whine and grumble about the injustice of it all, but sober, sensible citizens of a Republic will do so in the privacy of their homes, workplaces, churches and bars, and leave the continuing public discourse free to deal with such new matters as may arise.

In the second place, we are not only a Republic, but also a federation of Republics, aka States. This means that if anyone loses at the ballot box and just cannot abide the result, they might very well be able to vote with their feet by moving to another jurisdiction where their side has won.

Now, having to move out of state might not seem to the Ignorati Class like a very good solution. But that is only because they lack an appreciation of the general circumstances of human beings trapped in civil society for, oh, the last 10,000 years or so. For the most part, as even a cursory education would show, human beings have never, ever, ever had much to say about the society they were born into, and never, ever, ever had much ability to move to another society. So, a federation of Republics that freely allows citizens to come and go based on their own preferences is actually an extraordinarily wonderful thing in historical terms.

But, you say, what if no other state has decided in my favor on the issue of Gay Marriage? Well, suck it up. Here again, a little historical perspective helps tremendously in affecting the proper attitude.

I acknowledge that in all of this I have not addressed the substantive issue as to whether Gay Marriage should be legally recognized. That is because with the Ignorati Class at the helm of our Republic today it is important to clear away the flotsam and jetsam of public discourse.

To be continued …