Oh, How Soon We Forget

A recent topic of local interest has been about a city ordinance in the small town of Cedar Fort. It has been a topic that has plagued many cities in the county I live in. Its a huge issue actually, with people getting very wound up on both sides. It was an issue in my city just a few years back, and it makes all kinds of news. The local papers are flooded with letters to the editor. What is this topic you ask? The legalities of selling beer on Sunday. Yep. I'm not even sure what to say about that other than I'm amazed it's an issue. In Utah County, I think there are only 2 cities where it's legal to sell beer on Sunday. The rest of the cities, it is illegal. Stores are required in those cities to cover their beer, on Sunday or put up banners across it at the very least, that inform the shopper of the law stating they are not allowed to sell beer on that particular day. Though some cities have moved to just posting a little sign, stating as much.

I so struggle with this. Not because I can't decide one way or the other, but I can't see how its even an issue. Beer is legal. Right or wrong, it is legal so I won't even debate that. (If you don't like that beer is legal -because it can be bad for you- then work to make it illegal. Just remember while you're doing that that 7-11 nacho's are bad for you too, do you want someone telling you that you can no longer by them? Oh, and bacon, don't forget that too. Anyway... since it is a legal item for adults, lets debate the issue at hand. One day out of the week it is illegal to purchase in stores. Why is that? What possible difference can it make? It's an inconvenience at best for beer drinkers. They simply buy it on Saturday, or drive a few extra miles to one of the cities that sell it on Sunday. So what's the harm then you ask?

Name one valid reason for not selling beer on Sunday that does not involve religion. Yes, Utah is a state that is mostly populated by Mormons, dominated by religion. I think it's a wonderful place to live, and wouldn't move if you paid me to. But the narrow mindedness of people never ceases to amaze me. Not only that, but the battles they pick. Outlawing beer sales on Sunday does not curb drinking on Sunday. We have some serious issues here in Utah worthy of our worry and letters to the editor. Yet, we pick something as pointless as this.

Last I checked, we were not supposed to make laws based on religion. I've heard the arguments many times about how our countries constitution was based on religion, that it is an inbred part of it. That the morals and standards of our founding fathers religious values were drafted in the very heart of papers that we consider the basis of our freedoms. Nothing could be more correct. If we've learned nothing else in the last couple hundred years, it should be that the Constitution is an evolving thing. That the Bill of Rights was drafted by men more brilliant than me, with a foresight that they didn't even know they had. Why do I say it like that? Because the drafters of our Constitution owned slaves, did not believe that women had any rights. They drafted an item that was as close to perfect as such a thing can be. Those men, however insightful, were far from perfect.

So over the centuries, we as a nation have evolved. Why did we make it legal for women to vote? Because it was the right thing to do. We did our nation end slavery? Because nothing could be more wrong than one human being owning another. We are far from perfect and we have a long way to go. Race is still a big issue in our country, so are the rights of minorities and woman. Many believe that the tables have even turned to where a white, Christian, middle class, heterosexual, adult male is the one who is in the minority. We have issues like abortion, gay rights, the right to die, the right to wage war, or prosecute those that do, foreign policy, poverty, education, health insurance, privacy, child molesters, a rape committed every 7 seconds, a murder every 21, children being born addicted to crack, nuclear weapons, pollution and depletion of natural resources... There are so many issues along this line that I couldn't even begin to name them all. Yet, we worry about who's selling beer on Sunday and who is not. I just shake my head in awe.

I think I have very interesting politics. In many ways, I'm conservative... in others, I couldn't be more liberal. I'm not a big fan of the government, I am a huge fan of our total right to privacy, and our ability to make decisions for ourselves. I firmly believe that our constitution was not made to protect the majority, it was made to protect the one. It is not ok to pass laws that discriminate against a single individual. It is not ok to pass laws based on the majorities values. If I remember right, that mentality led to women being burned as witches not to long ago, or a black man hung or beaten because he looked at a white girl, or women not being able to work, vote, or own property.

It amazes me -in this community especially- that we are not more tolerant of those who differ from the community norm. (I'll get to that in a minute.) Another hot topic here last year was an amendment to Utah's constitution to ban gay marriage. I was actually surprised at the amount of people who opposed it. The law passed, but not nearly by the margin that I had assumed it would. I was somewhat proud of our citizens for attempting to stand up for such discrimination. Short of religion, again, there is no reasonable justification for banning gay marriage. You can say it's immoral if you want. Maybe it is. Maybe I think it is, maybe I don't. It doesn't matter. The only possible reason for it to be immoral is because it totally defies traditional Christianity. Should we pass laws based on traditional Christian values? Not if they hinder an adult from pursuing something that effects no one else adversely. Ok, back to the start of this paragraph.....

Just more than a 100 years ago, a young man in New York by the name of Joseph Smith claimed he talked with God. He made some phenomenal statements that really contradicted what most Christians believed. He gained quite a following despite this. He was labeled as everything from an enemy of the government, to heretic, to cult leader, to brain washer, to crack pot. He was not very well liked. He was persecuted because of his differing beliefs. He was hated. Our government sent armies to kill him. He and his followers were ran out of town after town. Finally, he died a martyr at the hands of a mob. His legacy didn't die with him. Not even close. He started what is now the fastest growing church in the world. The 10th largest religion in the world. Mormonism. It's big, and it's not just in Utah. It's just concentrated here. After his death, the Mormons traveled west, where they could practice their religion without interference from the government. It still wasn't quite enough. Armies were again -unsuccessfully- dispatched to rid the nation of Mormons. Laws were passed to restrict their practices. Many years later however, Mormons are not viewed by all as crazy people or heretics. Finally, they have the right to practice their religion. Thanks to our fantastic constitution, mainstream Mormonism is legal.

And now, they try to make laws to restrict others who are not like them. Any similarities? 320 years ago, people living in Massachusetts had Europe so they could have religious freedom. They burned witches. 230 years ago brave men drafted a letter declaring their freedom, and indeed the freedom of every human to live as they see fit without tyranny. They owned slaves, repressed women, nobility was still very much a factor, and they looked down at anyone who wasn't white. 160 years ago, the Mormons traveled to a desolate area, settled it so they could practice their religion without persecution. Today, we are passing laws to forbid others from doing things that don't agree with our personal views. It's almost like undoing our own evolution.