by Sean Smith
Dr. Ben Carson is a neurosurgeon from John’s Hopkins hospital and apparently a regular on Sean Hannity’s show. For those who don’t know Dr. Carson, he is a new rightwing darling who on Hannity Live recently asserted:
“Marriage is between and man and a woman. It’s a well-established fundamental pillar of society. And no group be they gays, NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn’t matter what they are, they don’t get to change the definition. “
Why Dr. Carson’s views on marriage equality are relevant is beyond most; however Andrea Mitchell had the good Doctor on her show this week to clarify his statements. A link to the interview is here. Dr. Carson appeared surprised that his statements triggered a controversy, stating he has always held his belief in one man/one woman marriage. He feels however, his statements were taken “completely taken out of context’ and did not mean to offend anyone. Dr. Carson went on to say that it wasn’t his intent to equate crimes such as pedophilia and bestiality with gay marriage.
Andrea Mitchell didn’t let Dr. Carson off the hook calling his statements demeaning to millions of people. Dr. Carson reiterated this was not his intent. He assured the viewers that he loves all of God’s children and supports the peoples’ right to associate with whomever they please. Sadly, the interview went down this non-productive rat hole for several minutes. It was as if Andrea was channeling Reince Priebus reminding Dr. Carson that if he stops belittling people all would be good.
But belittling people is the least troubling aspect of Dr. Carson’s views. The bestiality/pedophilia comparison is a seeming red herring to distract the audience from the truly troubling aspects of his statement. Specifically, Dr. Carson makes clear that homosexuals want to change marriage an “institution established by God.” This cannot be. In Dr. Carson’s world what God commands, man must obey.
In other words, Dr. Carson believes there are some issues beyond Americans’ power to question.
Fortunately, the constitution does not recognize a category of legal questions that lie outside Americans’ power to confront. Rather, our founding document makes clear that all governing power resides with the people. This power is absolute, for the people even retain the authority to amend and redefine the constitution itself. The authority to address all aspects of our communal life is the safety value against social unrest and is the genius at the heart of our constitution.
Dr. Carson is the latest (and likely not the last) to put forth the theory that some areas of life are beyond the question of mere mortals. This is the real offense contained in his opinion. For if a legal black hole is created where the people are powerless to question, it will be a very short time before additional areas of public life are thrown down the void. As more challenges are put beyond question, public life could breakdown ultimately killing our democracy.
Is anything in public life beyond question? Let’s hope not.
Sean Smith is a student of American history and writes political thrillers such as UNLEASHING COLTER’S HELL from his home in Western Washington. Follow him on Twitter: @parkthrillers or on his blog at: www.seandavidsmith.blogspot.com
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