Not a Prediction, But An Observation; The Slippery Slope In Action
"Slippery Slope" arguments involve a bit of prediction. If A happens, B will happen next. It’s easy to dismiss these sorts of arguments are mere guesses. However, when initial predictions become true, it’s time to take the arguments more seriously.
David Warren charts the course down the slippery slope in Canada.
When same-sex marriage was legalized in 2005, I argued that polygamy would follow. This is now happening.
There is nothing much we can do about it — the Canadian Constitution has "evolved," so that the judges who interpret Pierre Trudeau’s Charter of Rights have the power not only to overturn Acts of Parliament, but to make new law from whole cloth, according to their whims and ideological commitments. "The people" — mere voters — need not be consulted.
A test case is already heading towards the Supreme Court, from Bountiful, B.C. Lawyers for the fundamentalist Mormon, Winston Blackmore, who has long been openly practising polygamy, will invoke the Charter. The old goat has actually boasted of his multiple teenaged brides: estimates run to more than 20 wives in total. (And you thought Brad Pitt was a chick magnet.)
That this test case will not only proceed, but succeed, almost goes without saying. Even the attorney general of British Columbia doubted his chances with the Charter, when he brought polygamy charges in January against Blackmore, and Jim Oler. This was after a delay of about half a century: for the polygamous cult has been established openly in Bountiful since the era of Peyton Place (the late 1950s). The very fact that the authorities had not found the guts to enforce Section 293 of the Criminal Code, in all this time, will now be counted against the law itself.
This is nothing very new, actually. Here are posts from 2007, 2005, May of 004, and January of 2004, and that’s just my noting of the arguments. Others have been warning of this for longer than that. Things have moved (slipped?) faster in Canada, but they have a more liberal mindset. If you think it can’t happen here, you’re just completely mistaken and/or you haven’t been paying attention.
Filed under: Culture • Homosexuality
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Leave a Reply