Lawsuit could mean return to principles

The Kenneth Mich who wrote this letter to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is, I hear, Father Kenneth Mich, pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Menomonee Falls [stats D4 1st/16 45%]. He wrote in support of a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the recently-enacted Defense of Marriage amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution, Article XIII, Section 13.

As a child in what was then called civics class, I was taught that our form of government is exceptional because it protects the rights of a minority against the will of the majority.

Article I, Section 1, of the Wisconsin Constitution, much like the Declaration of Independence, says more than that.

All people are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

His civics class seems to have never got around to that consent of the governed part. [Father] Mich goes on

It was indicative that some of the rhetoric promoting the marriage amendment in Wisconsin stated the exact opposite - let the people of Wisconsin decide - in other words, let the people of Wisconsin decide on the rights of a minority by submitting those rights to a majority vote in the amendment process.

This was as opposed to having the issue decided by litigation, as [Father] Mich now advocates.

(via Dad29)