MONA - Defending Your Rights Away

The Kansas City Star has done a good job of smearing Missouri activist Ron Calzone over his opposition to a proposed bill 'that would add protections for LGBTQ Missourians'. But whatever you might think of Ron or his reasoning on this, what you really should consider is that laws such as these do not add to anyone's rights, they take away from everyone's rights and add to government's power over us all.

I oppose this Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA) for the same reasons that I've opposed all of the various RFRA's (Religious Freedom Restoration Act), because they infringe upon the liberty of everyone. Each of these 'protections' implicitly presume that you and I lack the right and power to make our own decisions unless we have 'legitimate', govt approved reasons, for doing so, despite what the the 1st Amendment, and the 9th Amendment, and the 10th Amendment and the Contract clause of Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1, have to say on the matter.

The law, properly, defines the boundaries of our actions, not what they should be or how pleasing they have to be to popular sensibilities, moral or otherwise - that is the very meaning of the 1st Amendment! When we err and violate that hard rule 'for the greater good', we then put govt in the position of defining the morality which we then all Must adhere to - which has the affect of eliminating the moral quality from it. Worse, because we've given Govt the Power to make that choice, having made it, it can then change its mind as it sees "legitimately" fit, whichever way the popularity needle happens to point to in the shifting demographics of the day.

Whatever good intentions a bill like this might ride into law on the backs of today, you can be sure that there will be those in power tomorrow who, caring not one whit about the 'good intentions' which put that power into their hands, will wring every drop of power from it to serve their own purposes tomorrow.