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Tom Minnery |
We tried something in this issue that we’ve never done before, and I hope you weren’t overwhelmed by it. Since you’re at the last page and still reading, I’m hopeful.
First some background.
It is indeed a historic trial for marriage that began in January in a San Francisco courtroom. The case is so significant that it doesn’t really matter which side wins the initial skirmish at this lowest federal court level. Frankly, I’m not hopeful that the San Francisco judge will rule our way, nor do I expect we’ll prevail at the next stop, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, also in San Francisco. That’s been a nest of Left-wingers for a long time. (These judges once ruled the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional, and they were overturned by the Supreme Court.).
And that, without question, is where the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger is also heading, for the ultimate showdown. Our side has hired the best attorneys possible, and the private law firm has been joined by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund. In all, more than 10 lawyers from our side are working full time on this case, and that brings me to the thing that we’ve never done before.
Our side’s first brief filed in the case is a magnificent legal argument for marriage, the best we’ve ever read, and its main arguments should be known by everyone who upholds marriage. The problem was that the brief was written by lawyers for judges, and it’s a hard slog for lay people.
That’s why Bruce Hausknecht, our legal analyst, rewrote and summarized the 98-page brief to make it accessible to you. By the way, Bruce is also a lawyer, but he knows better than to write like one. He did a superb job in explaining in more easily digestible terms the arguments made by the lawyers. (See Page 24.)
By the way, one of the major funders of this legal work is Focus on the Family Action, so if you’re one of our financial supporters, you’re helping directly in this historic defense of God’s most basic institution — the nuclear family.
On another matter, we ranged farther afield than we usually do in presenting the cover article by Peter Wehner on President Obama’s first year in office. Normally we don’t get into foreign affairs and economic issues, but the sharp Left political turn in which the president is trying to steer the entire country is unprecedented and it ranges far beyond the social issues that are normally our focus in Citizen. Just as a fully-orbed Christian worldview is important for readers to have, so is knowledge of the full-fledged assault from the Left on the country’s traditions and values.
All in all, there is much in this issue, but effective citizenship will be requiring more effort by all of us, as we try to understand what’s really happening, as opposed to what the politicians and the mainstream press are telling us.
So fasten your seatbelts and learn as much as you can in this important year of 2010. The elections in November will represent the first national opportunity for citizens to respond to what’s been happening politically, and all indications are that the response will be a loud "No!"
The best way to let your voice be heard is to know what’s going on. And, by the way, please continue to let your voice be heard to God as well, as you pray for our country, the leaders who have been placed in charge, and for a righteous outcome in this next round of elections.
Tom Minnery is the senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action and the editor of Citizen.
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Paid for by Focus on the Family Action.
