I may have been premature to praise Texas Gov. and likely presidential candidate Rick Perry for his commitment to the 10th Amendment and federalism. He and several other Republican candidates speak a good 10th Amendment game, but when "there is a conflict between state sovereignty and conservative policies, their reverence for the 10th Amendment abruptly goes by the wayside."
When New York legalized same-sex marriage, Perry first said, "That's New York, and that's their business, and that's fine with me." But he soon reversed course, endorsing the Federal Marriage Amendment, which says marriage "shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman."
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Perry tries to reconcile the contradiction by insisting that he's merely trying to keep activist federal judges from overruling the states that limit matrimony to its traditional form. He fears the U.S. Supreme Court may someday rule that gays have a constitutional right to wed their partners.
But that's not an argument for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. It's an argument for a constitutional amendment to guarantee states the right to ban it.
Perry and the others are straining to make two and two equal five. "The support of a marriage amendment is a pro-states' rights position," he says, "because it will defend the rights of states to define marriage as it has been." This is like saying that a draft protects a young man's right to serve in the military.
You either believe in federalism or you don't. If you do, that's not the same thing as endorsing everything a state might choose to do, and politicians shouldn't react as if they're afraid they will be so blamed. This is just a logical extension of the common-sense underpinning of individual freedom -- supporting it is not the same as celebrating everything individuals choose to do. If you believe in freedom instead of top-down imposition or one-size fits all, you have to support choice for individuals and for states, accepting the fact that not all decisions are wise and not all experiments succeed.
