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Editorial: Independence Day July 2nd, 2006
Editorial: Once Again... June 25th, 2006
Editorial: Home Ownership June 24th, 2006
Editorial: Mosquito Control in Cedar Key May 11th, 2006
Editorial: Will Gas Prices Go Up? April 30th, 2006
Editorial: Tree Ordinance Violations April 26th, 2006
Editorial: Why Worry about Global Warming? April 21st, 2006
Editorial: The Purpose of Government? March 23rd, 2006
Editorial: Air Boat Regatta, Guests or Pests? January 29th, 2006
Editorial: The East-West Management Plan December 21st, 2005
Editorial: Water, Water, Water December 13th, 2005
Editorial: Bad News for Print News, Good for Online November 14th, 2005
Editorial: A Bad Tradition November 10th, 2005
Editorial: For the Birds October 17th, 2005
Editorial: If It Killed the River.... October 4th, 2005
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The Purpose of Government? | The Purpose of Government?Editorial A brewer in Utah markets a hearty brew called Polygamy Porter. The sales pitch says, "Take a six pack home to your wives." Recent television documentaries and a Salt Lake City newspaper have made it clear that in some corners of Utah there are more wives than husbands. So what does polygamy have to do with the functions of a government? Most people agree that we should have no more government than enough to protect citizens from felons, fires, diseases, bad drivers, drunken airline pilots, et cetera. Good roads, clean rivers and care for the needy also have become things that most tax payers expect for their money. Furthermore, many people give lip service, if not support, for separation of Church and State. Back to polygamy. Polygamy was "revealed" to be morally wrong to church leaders in Utah. It was no coincidence that it became a condition for Utah to become a state. Utah "joined the union" by limiting marital unions. This would seem to be an extreme case of mixing Church and State. Some men and women approve of and apparently enjoy polygamy. Is it the government's business to decide who joins who in holy matrimony? The Cedar Key News editorial board and a lot of other people are confused by our government being involved in who practices polygamy. Cedar Key News neither endorses nor condemns polygamy. We DO support separation of Church and State, both keeping government out of religious practices and keeping religious beliefs out of government policy. Whether it is the Taliban, Puritans or other religious fanatics running the government, individual rights and beliefs get trampled. When free thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine cooperated with the more conventional and Christian revolutionaries to write our Constitution, they must have believed that separation of Church and State could and should work, in both directions. |
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