Good Grief!

As you may know, The Economist recently ran a cover story on the case for gay marriage. The letters page of the current issue is devoted to reader responses. My favorite is a letter from Paul Tan of New York:

Gay marriage is about equality. There is nothing conservative about denying gays equal benefits and equal protection of the law. And there is nothing liberal in advocating that they receive the same privileges as any other normal human being. It should be recognised that the state’s legitimacy derives from its people, that homosexuals are people, and what they do in private, or as an assertion of their conscientious beliefs, is not subject to majoritarian bullying.

I like the letter because it’s well-written, logical, and succinct. However, I like it even more because it makes a point related to one of my major annoyances: the hijacking of certain words and beliefs by political parties and the insistence that every point of view be thrown into a pre-defined category. Are we so lazy and ill-informed that we have to rely on classifications set forth by others to provide a context for discussion? Life is a lot more complicated than Democrats and Republicans, and it’s a damn shame the voting system in this country doesn’t accommodate the nuances.