Reply #9: Can States Afford All This Red Tape?

[obelus]

It seems to me that a constitutional amendment will require all states to pass specific laws to constitutionally conform with federal mandates on what is and isn't a legal marriage. In the event that individuals freely elect to challenge the nature of these laws, states will be forced to increase spending in enforcement and prosecution in order to nab all those pesky gays who boldly wish to display their civil rights. The states, already burdened by a number of unfunded mandates and the unintended victims in the cultural wars, will have to figure out a way to pay for a few hundred congress members scoring political points.

Currently, there is a 90 billion dollar deficit in aggregate state budgets. More and more services are curtailed as states struggle with patchy economic growth or negative growth. Governors could pre-empt this political skirmish by saying in masse, "Listen, unless you feds are willing to cough up the cash necessary to make these laws enforceable, shut the hell up!" That they don't do this is evidence that the power of states has been weakened--not by progressives at the federal level but by conservatives.

What have all the cultural wars of the last twenty years accomplished but to advance the name recognition of a few dozen cultural warriors? States are having to increase license and user fees for services and lay off essential personnel. Municipalities are having to increase property taxes and are investing less in infrastructure. This is a tax increase--ananthema to the conservative orthodoxy. Wait around awhile and conservatives will be rallying to deregulate the marriage industry.