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Editorial: Myths, Misinformation and Propaganda December 16th, 2008
Editorial: Editorial: Will Park Closure Just Make Things Worse? November 29th, 2008
Editorial: Editorial: October and November Surprises October 30th, 2008
Editorial: Is the Sky Falling? September 24th, 2008
Editorial: Editorial: Who Reads Cedar Key News? September 19th, 2008
Editorial: The First Hurdle for Every Child September 3rd, 2008
Editorial: A View of China from Cedar Key August 18th, 2008
Editorial: Who Killed the Real Estate Market? August 8th, 2008
Editorial: Editorial: It`s Clamerica! July 1st, 2008
Editorial: Can the City Commission Limit Noise? June 6th, 2008
Editorial: Unintended Results Rock the Boat May 29th, 2008
Editorial: Creeping Gas Prices May 13th, 2008
Editorial: Cedar Key Election Soon April 30th, 2008
Editorial: Questions fo the Candidates April 2nd, 2008
Editorial: Coming Elections: National County and City March 19th, 2008
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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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