DREADCLARITY: John Heard On Andrew Norton's John Heard - 'A Conservative Utilitarian Case' Against 'Gay Marriage'?
[UPDATE] DREADNOUGHT's question prompts a fine post on unity.
:: Update ::
DREADMATE Andrew Norton has re-posted a piece from March 2007, in which he engaged with DREADNOUGHT's opinion piece on 'gay marriage' and conservativism in The Australian newspaper.
:: Redux ::
I've already responded, at length, to Andrew's arguments. This time it is important to point out, in light of this un-altered re-posting, that Andrew concluded then that he thinks all marriage should probably be privatised. '[A]...church wedding is' he claimed 'just a registry office with stained glass windows, and the priest just a celebrant wearing strange clothes'. That is not an argument for 'gay marriage' and it is not a view of marriage that most voters would find acceptable. There is, again, no properly classical liberal / libertarian argument for State-based marriage and the putative arguments for 'gay marriage' are, therefore, piecemeal, trivial and incoherent. They do not guide good, serious lawmakers and they've never appealed to family advocates.
:: This Time ::
It is also important to reiterate that the parts of my article that Andrew takes for a 'conservative utilitarian argument' against 'gay marriage' contain, in fact, an argument against the idea that 'childcare rebates are a kind of tax on being gay'. What Andrew mistakes for a 'general statement of principle' and my signal claims are, in fact, minor sub-arguments, meant to show that even if homoactivists' vapid claims are conceded, still there is not even a utilitarian argument for the extension of tax benefits to homosexuals who do acquire and raise children.
:: The Upshot ::
DREADNOUGHTERS know my core arguments against 'gay marriage'. Everyone knows which positions are consistently pro-family and which are motivated by other, less humane ideologies. In this age of continued decline in this most central social unit, let the most reasonable voices continue to guide governments, to the better protection, edification and expansion of the human family.
:: Update ::
DREADMATE Andrew Norton has re-posted a piece from March 2007, in which he engaged with DREADNOUGHT's opinion piece on 'gay marriage' and conservativism in The Australian newspaper.
:: Redux ::
I've already responded, at length, to Andrew's arguments. This time it is important to point out, in light of this un-altered re-posting, that Andrew concluded then that he thinks all marriage should probably be privatised. '[A]...church wedding is' he claimed 'just a registry office with stained glass windows, and the priest just a celebrant wearing strange clothes'. That is not an argument for 'gay marriage' and it is not a view of marriage that most voters would find acceptable. There is, again, no properly classical liberal / libertarian argument for State-based marriage and the putative arguments for 'gay marriage' are, therefore, piecemeal, trivial and incoherent. They do not guide good, serious lawmakers and they've never appealed to family advocates.
:: This Time ::
It is also important to reiterate that the parts of my article that Andrew takes for a 'conservative utilitarian argument' against 'gay marriage' contain, in fact, an argument against the idea that 'childcare rebates are a kind of tax on being gay'. What Andrew mistakes for a 'general statement of principle' and my signal claims are, in fact, minor sub-arguments, meant to show that even if homoactivists' vapid claims are conceded, still there is not even a utilitarian argument for the extension of tax benefits to homosexuals who do acquire and raise children.
:: The Upshot ::
DREADNOUGHTERS know my core arguments against 'gay marriage'. Everyone knows which positions are consistently pro-family and which are motivated by other, less humane ideologies. In this age of continued decline in this most central social unit, let the most reasonable voices continue to guide governments, to the better protection, edification and expansion of the human family.
by DREADNOUGHT at 7:07:00 PM
<< Home