Mike Huckabee On Kim Davis: Obey The Law Only 'If It's Right'

[orange you glad]

Source: The Huffington Post

GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee on Sunday defended Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. When asked by ABC host George Stephanopoulos whether Davis had an obligation to uphold the law, even if she disagreed with it, Huckabee argued she did not.

"You obey if it's right," the former Arkansas governor said on "This Week." "So, I go back to my question, is slavery the law of the land because Dred Scott said so? Was that a correct decision? Should the courts have been irrevocably followed on that? Should Lincoln have been put in jail? Because he ignored it. That's the fundamental question."

The 1857 Dred Scott decision is widely viewed as the worst Supreme Court ruling in history. In it, the Court ruled that no one with African ancestry could be a citizen of the United States and voided prior legislation that had blocked the expansion of slavery into parts of the country. Huckabee, like some other conservatives, argued that a 19th-century ruling requiring discrimination against black people is similar to a 21st-century ruling barring discrimination against LGBT people.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mike-huckabee-kim-davis-slavery_55ec61c4e4b03784e2761cb6

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Barring discrimination vs. requiring discrimination. What part of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is Reverend Huckabee confused by?

[marble falls]

1. Why is Huckabee so concerned about a freedom that absolutely does not infringe on any of his?????

[SummerSnow]

4. Because it make him sound more Presidential to the conservative religious extremist.

[LiberalArkie]

2. I have backed down on things when I was working telling my manager that I just did not feel right

telling a customer something that I know was a lie. They just got someone else to do it. What the lady did was wrong, she should have let others in the office do it, but I think they were scared to do it.

[modrepub]

3. Kevin Benderman

What's the difference between Kim Davis and conscience objectors to the Iraq War?

[tabasco]

11. First of all, "conscientious" objectors to the Iraq war were right.

The Iraq war was unjustified and illegal by accepted international standards. Gay marriage is completely legal and moral.

Second, conscientious objectors do not issue marriage licenses and do not discriminate against other citizens.

Third, conscientious objectors do not prevent a government office from obeying the law and performing its function.

Fourth, there is a standardized procedure for obtaining conscientious objector status. There is no such procedure for disobeying the law.

[font size = 4] Hope it helps![/font]

[modrepub]

25. My Point

To make a martyr out of Kim Davis and vilify conscience objectors in my mind is repugnant. It's two people doing the same thing. One gets rallies (and future lucrative book deals and cushy speaking gigs) the other gets run out of the country or put in prison and vilified. Not fair. I have far more respect for military conscience objectors in this case because they are expected to follow orders for military discipline reasons. Facing possible firing squads is far more ballsie than voluntarily sitting in a low security federal prison (and wasting my tax dollars).

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

21. 'Conscience objector' generally applies to prospective draftees, not volunteer military

You might consciously object to the Iraq Wars because of your conscience, but if you do you either (1) don't volunteer for military service, or (2) if you are in the service accept the consequences of your actions, which could include prison.

Kim Davis isn't either a conscience objector or a civil rights martyr or anything else the right is trying to make her out to be. She is an elected civil servant who is disobeying the law by refusing to fulfill the duties of her office.

She should quit (which she won't -- $80,000/yr. is a damned good salary for that small town) or be suspended from her job by the court until the legislature reconvenes and decides her fate. Not sure the latter is a course of action available to the court.

Kim Davis is the poster child for bigotry and hatred.

[LeftofObama]

5. "You obey if it's right"?

Who decides "if it's right"?

[christx30]

41. Do you support harsh prosecution of

marijuana users, medical or otherwise?
If no, then you somewhat agree with Mike.

[Plucketeer]

42. "If it's right"

As in if it's of RIGHT - wing notion.

[sofa king]

45. Who decides? Fools who believe rather than think.

[closeupready]

6. Mike Huckabee has always set off my gaydar.

Maybe it's just me, though.

[shenmue]

7. It's just you

No gay man I know, and I know a few, would go anywhere near him.

[rurallib]

10. no it is not just you

I think the Huckster has a very nasty internal battle going.

[geek tragedy]

8. There's an interesting moral question

as to whether there's a moral obligation to obey the law. I would argue there isn't.

But, if you're an elected official and have taken an oath to uphold the law, different story.

[TexasProgresive]

9. If you cannot carry out your duties because of conscience

Then you have no other choice but to resign. It is one or the other.

[lastlib]

37. Bingo!

[David__77]

14. I think violating the law is a transgression against the moral code of government.

The thing is, people have their own ethics and integrity and don't need to play by the rules of the groups to which they belong. I don't support this clerk because I think she's violating others' rights. I don't think the fundamental problem is her violation of the law.

[lastlib]

38. Since she was elected to fulfill her duties and uphold the law....

(she took an OATH to do that!), then her violation of the law is a problem. If she cannot do it for reason of conscience, she needs to resign.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. There are people who think it's "right" to beat their kids

The law calls it child abuse.

[bluestateguy]

13. White southern conservatives like Huckabee cheered the Dred Scott decision

So he has no credibility.

[cosmicone]

15. Well, I don't think it is right to have a speed limit on the roads ....

hopefully, if I get any tickets, I'll send them to Suckabee

[oberliner]

20. Exactly - that standard could apply to anything

He is basically asking for Sharia law - Christian edition.

[MisterP]

16. *checks* wouldn't ya know, it IS right!

[DavidDvorkin]

17. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Letter from Birmingham jail:

"One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

[mdbl]

18. Again, we need to clarify that this woman's job was to uphold the law

If she doesn't want to, she needs to resign. Oh and why are we quoting Huckabee? He doesn't deserve the time of day.

[DavidDvorkin]

19. I agree with you about her duty being to do her job or resign

However, I was pointing out that Huckabee's general point was also stated--rather more eloquently--by MLKJr.

[mdbl]

23. And you know how I feel about anything Huckabee says

So comparing the struggles of MLK to Huckabee in any way is kind of offensive.

[DavidDvorkin]

34. And I think that's a silly reaction

Huckabee is despicable, but it is simply the case that he was saying the same thing that MLKJr. was.

[PatrickforO]

22. Wow! Obey the law ONLY if it is right???

OK.

Well, if that were the case, I could refuse to pay income tax unless it was used for domestic programs that help Americans as opposed to stupid immoral wars! Does that count?

C'mon Huckleberry. Can't have it both ways.

[smirkymonkey]

36. Yeah, this could start getting complicated.

I think she has opened up a whole can of worms here. This won't be an isolated case. I'm fairly sure of it.

[Geronimoe]

24. Gun laws

If you tell Huckster your conscience prevents you from selling guns and/or ammo, he and the evangelicals will go ballistic claiming you are denying them their Constitutional rights.

[roamer65]

40. Guns may be constitutionally protected, but the ammo is not.

There is no declaration of a right to purchase firearm ammunition in the U.S. Constitution, therefore any attempts at firearm control will need to come from the ammunition side of the fence. It can be legislated as a "privilege", basically.

Stores like Kmart are fully within their rights to discontinue sales of firearm ammunition. It's currently perfectly legal and fully constitutional. Ammunition purchases can be highly restricted and even stopped and it would be constitutional unless the SCOTUS deems otherwise.

[orange you glad]

44. Excellent Point

And I would love, love, LOVE to see the wingnuts' response: "Whaddaya mean? They're guns! The ammo is implied! You're messing with the intent of the 2nd Amendment!"

And that. Is when. We nail. Their asses. To the wall.

Brilliant idea, roamer!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

26. I still say someone needs to check out his porn collection.

[Bluenorthwest]

27. I think he's been saying horrible, insanely bigoted things for at least 23 years while the Straight

Community at large nodded along and said 'amen, brother' and never once took a strong and certain stand to say they find him to be objectionable. None of this 'faith community' peers, none of his 'straight community' peers. None of this peers in politics or media have said 'enough of this shit'.
And what do you and many other apathetic straights finally say after nodding along with him for a quarter of a century? That you think he's gay. It's disgusting. Silence for two and a half decades followed by 'he's probably gay'.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

28. Those who rail the lodest against something are often doing it.....

It's their way of deflecting scrutiny.

AKA: The Elmer Gantry Syndrome.

BTW: I don't have a history of silence.

[Bluenorthwest]

31. Huckabee called for relocation camps for gay people in 1992. How is it that I am still seeing him in

public? Because his peer group has not objected to him strongly. Straight people who could laugh in his face do not do so.
And when they do criticize him, it is backhanded in that they claim he's gay. Just out of thin air, based on nothing at all. Got any support for this theory that all anti gay straights are really gay meaning straights are not really at fault at all? Of course you don't. You just want to deflect from the fact that the straight community is not doing a good job policing their own.

That is something straights say all the time when confronted with the bigoted nature of their culture. You are not even being original, it is what they always say. 'He's gay' is what all straights say to criticize others because they see gay as an insult.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

32. So the entire straight community is responible for this guy?

[Jerry442]

29. I believe the MLK and...

...other proponents of civil disobedience understood that it was impossible to package a "get out of jail free" with acts of civil disobedience. The protester had to accept the penalties that went along with the act. The alternative to this is anarchy, where the laws are merely suggestions which can be freely ignored at will

If Davis accepts her incarceration as a consequence of her actions, then yes, she is following MLK's example, although I and many here think she's seriously misguided. On the other hand, if she thinks that her religion gives her the power to ignore whatever laws she doesn't like, she's just nuts.

[maddiemom]

30. And who determines what is "right"?

This could get really interesting. Chaos would be a definite result. And we should vote for this man: why? No Brainer answer: work to change the laws we feel are wrong.

[matt819]

33. This clown is running for president

Or at least for a renewed contract on Fox News.

Where does this end?

Stop signs? Who needs 'em? Same with pesky speed limits.

Tax exemptions on churches. Doesn't seem right to me.

Salmonella? Fuck that. You get the peanut butter I sell, salmonella or not. Same with coal mine safety. Fuck 'em.

Rhetorical question: Are they all fucking morons?

[Gothmog]

35. The Huckster is trying to get the right wing religious part of the base energized

[roamer65]

39. Sorry, Suckabee. You lose, again.

All of the pre-civil war slavery decisions were wiped out by the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The same clause that grants gays and lesbians the right to marry.

Checkmate.

[Dont call me Shirley]

43. They say eroding the line between separation of church and state is civil justice. Poo!