Sorry, you can't live together.
Why anyone would grant the government power to determine who can and cannot live together is beyond me. According to a few stories out there, the people of Black Jack, MO have vested in their government the power to evict groups of three or more people living together who aren't related by blood or by marriage. I'm all for people getting married before popping out kids and moving in together for logistical and good-ole-fashioned religious reasons, but we'll save that story for another day. The issue at hand here is letting our government determine at will who can live together.
I'm a nice guy. If one of my friends were in desperate need of a place to stay, I wouldn't have any problems letting them shack up with Jessica and me (assuming Jessica didn't mind either), even if that meant for a long period of time. But if I were to do that in Black Jack, MO, I could expect an eviction notice. Now, to be fair, the spirit of this ordinance is to uphold family values and make a better community. But at what cost?!? When did we start allowing our government to push its religious beliefs on us? Why would we let our government pry into our personal lives so far to care who all is living in a particular house and whether or not they are married?
This ordinance:
- prevents people from allowing friends to room up
- prevents live-in nannies
- prevents homosexuals from adopting
- prevents people from pooling their resources and sharing the burden of a house payment
- etc
It's really sad. What's even more sad is that the ordinance was just recently upheld by the members even in the face of the national spotlight.
We should never allow our government the control to pry into our personal lives and enforce its own religious beliefs on us. Would we allow our government to have an ordinance saying mixed races couldn't live together? What about forcing the age gap between married people? Why not allow our government to prevent homosexuals from living together? This gets ridiculous!
I am really glad that the ACLU is fighting for this one. This ordinance is on a very slippery slope.
I'm a nice guy. If one of my friends were in desperate need of a place to stay, I wouldn't have any problems letting them shack up with Jessica and me (assuming Jessica didn't mind either), even if that meant for a long period of time. But if I were to do that in Black Jack, MO, I could expect an eviction notice. Now, to be fair, the spirit of this ordinance is to uphold family values and make a better community. But at what cost?!? When did we start allowing our government to push its religious beliefs on us? Why would we let our government pry into our personal lives so far to care who all is living in a particular house and whether or not they are married?
This ordinance:
- prevents people from allowing friends to room up
- prevents live-in nannies
- prevents homosexuals from adopting
- prevents people from pooling their resources and sharing the burden of a house payment
- etc
It's really sad. What's even more sad is that the ordinance was just recently upheld by the members even in the face of the national spotlight.
We should never allow our government the control to pry into our personal lives and enforce its own religious beliefs on us. Would we allow our government to have an ordinance saying mixed races couldn't live together? What about forcing the age gap between married people? Why not allow our government to prevent homosexuals from living together? This gets ridiculous!
I am really glad that the ACLU is fighting for this one. This ordinance is on a very slippery slope.
posted by gapid at 7:54 AM
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