Now that the election is over, its time....

to get back to the process of organizing the Centrist Party.  First we need to go back and put all of that party platform stuff into one central place.  So I'm going to label all of the subsequent posts on this topic with that same heading to make them easy to locate.  When all of the individual ideas have been posted, I'll make a new blog containing all of them.

This morning the issue is same-sex marriage.  Not because it's the most important issue, and not to give it additional important.  But simply because it happened to be on my mind.  It is an important issue, although fixing our economy and our deficit situations are probably more critical to the future of the nation.

So the Centrist Party, through one of our members in Congress, will introduce a bill into the House.  The Civil Unions Act of 2015 will remove the ability of government at any level to "define" marriage, as the term is presently defined.  Religious organizations may choose to define marriage however they wish.  The states will each set up their own rules for "civil unions".  Any and all legal benefits, obligations, rights and privileges that currently are established by marriage will now be established by civil unions instead.

The states can set their own rules regarding the minimum ages for civil unions.  States will be forced to recognize marriages performed by religious organizations as meeting the requirements for forming and entering into a civil union.  If a state desires, it can legalize polygamy in civil unions, although I don't see any state save Utah even considering this.

A loophole in present law will be closed.   Currently California allows seniors who are of sufficient age to draw social security benefits to enter into civil unions where if they were to marry, one of the two would lose their social security benefits.  The Civil Unions Act will codify the recognition of civil unions as meeting the test whereby a senior receiving survivor benefits cannot keep those benefits and enter into a new civil union.  Such seniors can choose to live together without the benefit of a civil union, or choose to lose their benefits.

Government at the local level, with direction from the state, will provide a method for "codifying" civil unions through a ceremony.  States may, at their discretion, license individuals to act on the state's behalf without benefit of being part of an organized religion, to perform civil union ceremonies.

This is all about equality of treatment.  One of the keystones of the Centrist Party.