Wolves 3, Lambs 1. Notes from a second-class citizen.

Unamerican : adj., contrary to the principles which distinguish the United States of America from all other countries.

One of these uniquely American principles, embodied in the slogans "Don't Tread On Me" and "Live and let live," is that as long as your neighbor isn't violating someone's rights, what he does is none of your business, and CERTAINLY none of the government's business. And as I've previously noted, there IS no right not to have neighbors who call themselves husband and husband.

This morning I awoke with my status as a second-class citizen firmly entrenched in the Missouri Constitution.

I do not use the term "Unamerican" lightly, and unlike Teresa Heinz-Kerry, once I use the word, I stick by it and do not backpedal. This amendment is Unamerican. And those who voted for it suffer from an Unamerican mindset, a mindset that says community expectations outweigh individual rights and freedoms.

It is a mindset with which both major political parties are afflicted -- the Republicans in social matters, the Democrats in economic/fiscal matters. And that's just in theory; in practice, Democrats often limit social liberty and Republicans limit economic liberty as well. And they do so in ways that more often than not punish success and innovation and reward failure and stagnation. All in the name of community standards.

Libertarians have long held the belief that the two major parties are flip sides of the same coin -- less liberty, more government control. Libertarians have long referred to the two parties as one -- Demublicans or Republicrats. This treats the major parties with much too much genial generosity. I suggest a new name for those who choose to run for office under the Democrat or Republican banner -- the Unamerican Party.

What's that? You say there are SOME good Democrats and SOME good Republicans? That is like saying there are some good gangsters and some good Mafia members. While their individual actions may be noble, their willingness to belong to, and to run for office under the banner of, a corrupt organization disqualifies them from being "good." Their membership in these organizations points out that they do not truly believe in the American principle of individual liberty.