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Originally Posted by Numinous
Axiom, while I applaud your attempt to rationalize the homophobia present in politics, nobody in said politics rationalizes anything about it. Most politicians simply equate the loudest hearsay as the will of the voting populace and go with the flow, clearly ignoring the facts.
If I was in the US and the governor of my state said "We can't legalize same-sex marriage due to financial issues", I'd scream on top of my lungs "BULLSHIT". I checked the data about same-sex marriage in NY and I found a projection of the state's economy gaining 210 million dollars exclusively from said marriages (which are only 1% of the newly wed couples) in 3 years. I seriously doubt the marriage benefits the state government has to spend to such a tiny percentage outweighs that economy gain.
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I hear what you're saying but... it's an incredibly depressing notion. What kind of world am I living in where the people making outrageous and provocative claims cannot even rationalize their positions to themselves.
There was a point in time, not even 5 years ago tbh, that I would have been willing to just accept that it was simply a matter increasing a political candidates constituency. But not now. If it was 100% about gaining voter support, then more politicians would be for same sex marriage. Opponents against it are now the minority, and on a steady and steep decline. If this emerging trend continues along the same tangent, the USofA will have a 70/30 percent split in favor of gay marriage before the next-next presidential term.
With no dire political ramifications plainly visible, that makes it the sensible choice. When your parties very voter base begins to move towards equality, the reasonable action from the political view point would be to follow suit. Especially when the movement is a twenty+ year long trend. I do entertain the idea this trend can specifically be attributed to the passing of the previous generations who were holding on to a level of socially groomed bigotry. And as they die, the newer more progressive generations bring with them the new ideas of what's socially acceptable. But with that, any political hopeful should be reading the trends as they develop and adjust their campaign efforts accordingly. Which somehow still doesn't seem to be the case though.
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Also, if finances were ever the trouble, there's 3 easy taxes that wouldn't discriminate anyone, on the contrary, it'd make things only the more equal: taxes upon properties owned by religious groups, taxes upon religious representatives and taxes upon religious services. I find it unfair that a farmer has to fill up taxes for owning and working on a farm and has to declare the costs and gains of its crops (which are essential product for any human) and anybody with a megachurch doesn't have to pay a dime for delivering a service that is pretty much a luxury. And those taxes are completely constitutional, thanks to the First Amendment. And again, you can't rationalize the absence of such taxes because there's no rationalization in the matter to begin with.
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Totally agree with all of this. Many chruches exist as tax shelters for people/businesses. It is often the hassle free way to gain those last minute exemptions. I do sort of the same thing, with donations to the goodwill at the end of every year to protect a portion of my income.