Earlier this week, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted, “The Supreme Court’s decision to let rulings by lower court judges stand that redefine marriage is both tragic and indefensible. . . Traditional marriage is an institution whose integrity and vitality are critical to the health of any society. We should remain faithful to our moral heritage and never hesitate to defend it.”
Senator Cruz has promised to introduce a constitutional amendment to prevent the federal government from striking down state marriage laws.
Senator Cruz is so busy running for President in 2016 that I decided to help him out with the Constitutional Amendment. Here’s what Amendment XXVIII would need to look like:
Section 1. Certain provisions of the United States Constitution are hereby modified to the extent inconsistent with the provisions of this article: the First Amendment prohibition on making any law respecting an establishment of religion; Article IV, Section 1 requiring States to give full faith and credit to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other State; and the Fourteenth Amendment regarding a citizen’s rights to equal protection under the laws.
Section 2. Each State shall have the right to define marriage in accordance with Judeo-Christian values as determined by that State’s legislature or citizenry from time to time.
Section 3. No State shall be required to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another State.
Section 4. This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by convention in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Ted Cruz talks about “moral heritage”. Our nation has a spotty moral heritage, unfortunately, so I would ask Sen. Cruz the point in time that he wants to pick as the correct one where he’s proud of this nation’s collective morality.
Let’s run through some possible dates.
1789 – The Constitution is adopted; however, slavery is widespread and blacks are considered three-fifths of a person. Probably not a highlight in our “moral heritage.”
1868 – 14th Amendment is adopted because following the Civil War, the South did not provide freed slaves the same protections as other citizens. It took another 100 years and the passage of the Civil Rights Act before this Amendment really had any impact on racial disparity in this country. Also, women could not vote at this time. It would be hard to say this was the peak of US morality.
1942 – The US government orders the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent living on the West Coast. Rounding up US citizens and putting them in concentration camps? Even President Reagan recognized that this was a major uh-oh so we probably can’t pick this time period.
1964 – At the insistence of another famous Texas Senator (then-president Lyndon Johnson), Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. This might be a bright spot in our “moral heritage” except that most states still prohibited interracial marriage.
1967 – The US Supreme Court invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage. OK. Maybe we’re getting closer.
1973 – The US Supreme Court upholds a woman’s right to abortion in Roe v. Wade. According to any social conservative, this decision was wrong and has led to the moral decay of our country. As a result, 1973 has to be the end point of our analysis.
CONCLUSION: Sometime between 1967 and 1973, the US hit its “moral” peak. We can be proud of ourselves during this brief six-year period in our nation’s two hundred thirty-eight year existence.
I’ve written your Amendment for you, Senator Cruz. Now, you tell me the date that you want to take our values back to.