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Editorial: Sign Thefts - Fear of the Opposition? October 14th, 2004
Editorial: Police Arrested a Person October 7th, 2004
Editorial: Korean Cloud on the Horizon September 14th, 2004
Editorial: Moratorium Battle Heats Up August 30th, 2004
Editorial: Orders From the Top August 12th, 2004
Editorial: On the Value of Art July 14th, 2004
Editorial: Of Voles and Men June 24th, 2004
Editorial: Clam Poaching, are We Number One? June 4th, 2004
Editorial: Leadership Overcomes Flawed Process in Missile Range Decision May 10th, 2004
Editorial: Bomb Range Inn April 25th, 2004
Editorial: Is the President Above the Law? April 8th, 2004
Editorial: The "Good Old Days" March 15th, 2004
Editorial: Access to Public Records March 1st, 2004
Editorial: Sunset Park: A Reality? February 23rd, 2004
Editorial: The "Tree Ordinance" February 9th, 2004
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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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