In a charming editorial this morning, The New Paltz Journal applauds Maine voters for narrowly defeating (53% to 47%) a proposal that would’ve legalized same-sex marriage, but chides them for not defeating the proposal more soundly. (Needless to say, I have now and forever canceled my subscription to The New Paltz Journal’s RSS feed; no questions asked.)

Good…This time the voters had to undo something that the Maine legislature and governor had pressed upon them.

These measures for real and actual marriage between one man and one woman should be winning by five to one vote margins, or better

I’d be the last person to reject the citizens’ right to reject what the usurpers in government force upon them, but this is not that.  This is simply projection of one’s own preferences on to the broader mass of the populace, using the full force of government—supported (as always) by the violent process of “democracy“.

Listen close because I will say this once, and only once:

Freedom is not a fucking popularity contest.

Proponents of same-sex “marriage” could be outnumbered and outvoted and outrepresented in the legislature by a margin of 100:1, and I would still offer them my unqualified support. We should not reserve civil liberties only to those who fit a “perceived mold of inclusion” (.doc).

The fact of the matter is that government should not be at all involved in the sanctification of marriage, homo- or hetero- or poly- or whatever. Unfortunately, government has arrogated to itself, the power to grant privilege and regulate and license the hell out of what many believe to be the most-sacred of human relationships. Don’t let all that privilege go to your head.

The NPJ concludes with a slew of neo-theo-con propaganda, which apparently is the default “Plan B” in the absence of basic human decency. Read carefully, more ignorant words have perhaps never been written:

“[G]ay marriage” is both an attack on the meaning of marriage and an attack on meaning itself, an attempt to make 2 + 2 = 5.

…The “gay marriage” thing is not about getting people to accept “equality,” it’s about getting them to accept a lie.

The “equality” sword is one which cuts both ways. Make no mistake about it: heterosexual “marriage” of the one man, one woman variety, is in its current incarnation, very much a state-granted privilege, and nothing more. If the NPJ wants to argue that gay marriage isn’t about equality, let them first renounce all of the state-sanctioned inequalities from which they benefit.

No? Very well then: If you feel threatened in any way by some complete strangers’ same-sex marriage, then this speaks volumes about the sanctity and foundation of your own own, heterosexual relationship: your relationship only has meaning because you are able to exclude others from experiencing the sorts of love, fidelity and friendship that you are privileged enough to enjoy.

Few things are more morally bankrupt than joy accruing to privilege by exclusion.