5 out of 6 new England States have now legalized gay marriage. New Hampshire’s new law wisely says individual churches can decide whether to have religious same-sex marriage with civil marriage available to all. This neatly punts the issue out of the religious arena and could be a model for other states.
It’s interesting the push for same sex-marriage is coming out of New England.
I grew up there, in Connecticut. I think some of the reason maybe that in New England religion and politics are considered personal, and privacy should be respected. Also, the Religious Right has the least amount of influence there.
I think New England paid attention to their history and learned from it. Founded by people looking for religious freedom but becoming inquisitors in their own right with the Puritans and the witch burnings, New England has come full circle and epitomizes the moderate middle. Then their is the New Hampshire motto – Live free or die. The real irony is that New England has this sort of uptight, east coast reputation and California has a laid back, anything goes reputation. Maybe CA can learn about tolerance and freedom from the uptight puritans?
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.
I grew up in NH, a conservative state where the neo-cons are (generally) anathema. These days, they’re more likely to vote Dem than GOP. Conservatism there meant waste nothing, leave people alone, and take responsibility for your actions.
NH has more legislative representatives per capita than any other– 424 members, more than any other state, for a populatiopn of only 1.3 million, making it by far more representative than any other state (or the nation). It is also one of a handful of states that STILL has no state income tax.
Those are the values I grew up with. So when I hear Gingrich, Cheney, and Limbaugh ranting about repression, hatred, and the elimination of civil rights, I cringe. That’s NOT Conservatism!
My view on the definition of that type of conservative is that it means they want to conserve their viewpoint and the money in their pockets and damn the rest of us. If they were truly conservative according to the definition of the word, they would also be frugal about what they gave away and abused of public lands and would not be letting big business cosy up to the public trough like porkers. I’m not talking about the bailout – I’m talking about all the free money they get from laws and loopholes created by the governments of the people – city, county, state and federal. If you want an ulcer – read Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston.