Virginia’s Constitution is really a work to behold. Its priorities are evident from the moment you start reading it – the first article is entitled Bill of Rights, and the very first section reads:<\/p>\n
“That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That was written 230 years ago, before the colonies had even declared independence, nevermind adopted the U.S. Constitution. Its ideas – of liberty, independence, and equality – served as a model for many. And now those ideas are under direct attack in Virginia. <\/p>\n
Vivian Page<\/a> brings us the highlights the Virginian Pilots’ editorial against the proposed amendment that Virginia voters will be facing on November 7th: <\/p>\n
\n Parse them anyway you like, but those 87 words [of the amendment] seek no less than to undo what Mason wrought in Virginia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first days, sentiments that have stood the test of 230 years.<\/p>\n
[\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6]<\/p>\n
The mere possibility that such gracelessness might find its way into Virginia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high-minded Bill of Rights – among protections for religious liberties, assembly and free elections – is insult enough to the commonwealth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s founding sentiments.<\/p>\n
But the marriage amendment\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intent – to deprive unmarried people of basic legal rights otherwise guaranteed by Virginia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s constitution and by common law – makes a mockery of Mason\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hope of protecting the inherent rights of all men to be equally free and independent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The whole editorial is here<\/a>. This amendment is an abomination. Vote No, Virginia<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Virginia’s Constitution is really a work to behold. Its priorities are evident from the moment you start reading it – the first article is entitled Bill of Rights, and the very first section reads: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-society","category-virginia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}