Disagreement leads to greatness

This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on July 3, 2008.

Disagreement leads to greatness

Recently, I got a call from "Ivan" from the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. Ivan wanted to inform me of a forum being held to discuss VPIRG's plans to lobby for the closure of Vermont Yankee. He asked if I wanted to come to the forum.

I addressed this issue here in April and if you, dear reader, can remember that far back, you might be able to guess my answer to his question.

I told Ivan that though I am a supporter of VPIRG and most of what it works toward, I disagree with VPIRG on this issue. Ivan was polite enough to thank me for my support (we have donated to VPIRG off and on over the years), and then just as politely ended the call. We tacitly agreed to disagree.

Another topic I've written about before is gun control, and the Supreme Court recently ruled that the 2nd Amendment does, in fact, guarantee an individual right to own a firearm. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, a broadcaster for whom I have the utmost respect, railed against the ruling, going so far as to laughingly suggest that the only arms the Amendment protects are those that were in common use at the time of its ratification.

I was happy to hear Sen. Patrick Leahy speak out in favor of the Supreme Court's ruling, happy to have another liberal on my side on this issue, though I think that may be more to do with where we hail from than anything else. Those who live in crime-ridden cities or whose lives or families have been directly affected by gun violence have a much different perspective on the issue than we.

Back in January, I gave weak support to Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama, saying I "leaned toward" her. Eventually, I voted for Obama, convinced by him and his message throughout the month of February. This is an area where a great many Democrats disagreed. It is now July, and still not all the wounds have healed.

Even as Obama and Clinton appeared together in Unity, New Hampshire, so that Clinton could show her support for Obama, "Clinton for President" placards appeared in the audience and rabid Clinton supporters interviewed by the media continued to insist that she was the better choice. For these people, "quixotic" may be a vocabulary word to which they need introduction.

In February, I wrote about civil union and marriage and the Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection. In April, the Commission presented its report to the legislature. As it noted, the Commission's charge was not to make any recommendations about expanding or restricting civil union or marriage, and it did not.

What it did do, though, is give a voice to those on both sides of the issue, though the comments were "overwhelmingly in favor of inclusion of gay and lesbian couples within the marriage laws." The report also noted that there are differences between marriage and civil union, that those differences do affect families, and that more study is needed.

Like that of Massachusetts before it, the Supreme Court of California recently decided that same sex couples there had to be allowed to marry, bolstering the argument for the institution here. In November, though, Californians will be casting ballots not only for President, but also on a proposition to constitutionally ban the institution that is flourishing now. If it passes, it would likely render all of those unions dissolved. Now that's a fine mess.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has publicly come out against the proposition, saying his state has more important things to worry about.

Finally, a few weeks ago, my column about oil prices, and that of my right-leaning associate Mike Benevento, were very close in both broad concept and in many details. Though I know the adversarial nature of our columns has been called into question, I think the airing of the differences allows us to see where we do have common ground, and from that, we can come to agreement.

With all that said, this brief review has also brought to mind a phrase that has special meaning this week, as we celebrate our 232nd year of independence. That phrase is "the melting pot." Our differences, all combined and mixed together, are what have made, and will continue to make, America great.