EDITORIAL: Compliance with court ruling commendable
Government’s decision this week to comply with the Supreme Court ruling pertaining to same-sex marriage validly solemnised abroad has averted a crisis and avoided setting a dangerous precedent in our constitutional democracy.
Many nefarious plans were being hatched to evade compliance, and we were on the verge of living under the tyranny of men while also tossing away the baby with the bathwater by disregarding our constitution.
The arbitrary use of political authority to suppress the rule of law is alien to our country, but the recent machinations, including suggestions to amend the constitution in order to avoid complying with the court order, were a risky course to take.
The rule of law, which entails that all citizens and institutions – including government – are held to the same legal standards and requirements, is what makes any nation tick. Anything to the contrary is anarchy.
To commend government on its decision to respect the law would sound like praising a fish for swimming because it is obliged to do so. But still, it took fortitude and sober-mindedness to arrive at this decision, even when government faces threats of being voted out of power if it succumbed to the so-called ‘gay agenda’.
Throwing our laws into the trash bin every time there’s a ruling we don’t like is like a mother strangling her newborn baby whose skin tone differs from her preconceived expectations.
Many nefarious plans were being hatched to evade compliance, and we were on the verge of living under the tyranny of men while also tossing away the baby with the bathwater by disregarding our constitution.
The arbitrary use of political authority to suppress the rule of law is alien to our country, but the recent machinations, including suggestions to amend the constitution in order to avoid complying with the court order, were a risky course to take.
The rule of law, which entails that all citizens and institutions – including government – are held to the same legal standards and requirements, is what makes any nation tick. Anything to the contrary is anarchy.
To commend government on its decision to respect the law would sound like praising a fish for swimming because it is obliged to do so. But still, it took fortitude and sober-mindedness to arrive at this decision, even when government faces threats of being voted out of power if it succumbed to the so-called ‘gay agenda’.
Throwing our laws into the trash bin every time there’s a ruling we don’t like is like a mother strangling her newborn baby whose skin tone differs from her preconceived expectations.
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Namibian Sun
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