Quote:
Originally Posted by FireFly
So what you're saying is democracy trumps liberty?
Hell, Canada is more liberal than the US. In fact, I would consider Canada a much better beacon of liberty than the US. Let's talk about a dictionary definition of liberty first and go from there...
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/liberty
Now if you click that link, one of my favorite definitions pops up... I'll highlight it here just to show you if you're too lazy to click the link.
This is just a sample of what liberty is, there are additional definitions listed.
Now if you look at number three, would you say that having a gay marriage bill defeated would give gays 'freedom from control to do, think or speak according to choice"? I don't think so. Liberty would mean that those opposing gay marriage can say, "I don't think that's right!", (as they are free from the control of their speech,) while gay people say, "that's too bad! I am at liberty to choose the spouse that I wish!"
Just as an example. Neither act would infringe on the rights of others as stated in the constitution, but would allow for maximum liberty. See?
I'm not saying Canada is perfect; the battle over the Alberta Human Rights Act is proof of that. However in general, Canada is a beacon of liberty, and a damn good one at that. |
Weird response. First of all, regardless of what Webster's says, liberty is not unconstrained freedom from authoritative institutions or rules. That's actually called nihilism.
We live in democracies where the right to rule is given by majority consent. In cases like gay marriage where the legitimacy of a right granted and protected by the state is not entirely clear-cut, democratic options should be exercised to facilitate a dialogue.
Gay marriage in Canada does not mean that Canadians are more tolerant people than Americans. It was legalized in Canada by the elites, not through democratic or constitutional consensus.
Even if Canada is more free than the United States, which I actually believe it somewhat is, we are a fairly insignificant middle power state which has literally no sway in global politics or the political culture on liberal democracy. Following my above argument, every liberal country holds themselves to an American standard of liberty, whether they agree with it or not.