Religious freedom doesn't include a God-given right to a government paycheck. Dana Guffey realized that. Kim Davis didn't.
Guffey resigned in June as county clerk in Cleburne County, home of Greers Ferry Lake and Heber Springs. She left rather than issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. I respect her commitment even while I strongly disagree with her reason for leaving.
Even if I agreed with Guffey on marriage, I believe she could have issued licenses to people who are legally entitled to them with a clean conscience. Issuing a license as prescribed by law doesn't give personal sanction to what the license holder will do. Guffey, however, thought otherwise.
Guffey walked the walk. As much as I disagree with her, I hope I'd show the same gumption if an employer told me to do something I deeply believed to be wrong.
Then there's Davis, the clerk for Rowan County, Ky. Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples who -- like it or not -- are legally entitled to them. Davis then spent a few days in jail before attending a rally upon her release. She was freed because her office workers did her job for her while she was locked up. They obeyed a court order and issued licenses to anyone who was legally entitled. Davis stayed in her $79,796.68-a-year government job and got 15 minutes of fame doing it.
The cause of religious liberty deserves a better standard bearer than a paper shuffler who takes the pay and refuses to shuffle the paper. Guffey, who really sacrificed something for the same beliefs, didn't attract nearly so much fuss.
Many battles lie ahead between the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom and 14th Amendment's guarantees of due process and equal protection. A fight over the job duties for a county clerk in Kentucky, however, won't be one of those battles. It's a well-defined job. What you should render unto Caesar is pretty obvious when you work for Caesar.
As usual, the noteworthy thing happened -- or rather, didn't happen -- after the initial flair up. Another 117 county clerks in Kentucky and thousands of their peers nationwide kept doing their jobs. They did this while not going to jail. Calm prevailed despite the best efforts of our former governor, Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee threw Davis a party, greeting her as she came out of jail. Thursday, he came to Conway. There he said county clerks in Arkansas should "follow the only law they have in front of them" and deny licenses to gays. The laws "in front of them" were all written before the Supreme Court ruled anti-gay statutes are unconstitutional.
So Huckabee, in effect, called county clerks lawbreakers. Sometimes I think presidential candidates are more interested in headlines than votes.
I also have to wonder what Huckabee's reaction would have been if, say, former Gov. Bill Clinton had done the same thing to him. Suppose Clinton had come back to the state and advised county officials to completely ignore something then-Gov. Huckabee had said. Of course, I'm drawing this comparison because our very conservative present-day governor, Asa Hutchinson, had this to say about the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage back in June:
"Today the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision requires the State of Arkansas to recognize same-sex marriage. This decision goes against the expressed view of Arkansans and my personal beliefs and convictions. While my personal convictions will not change, as governor I recognize the responsibility of the state to follow the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result of this ruling, I will direct all state agencies to comply with the decision."
I guess Hutchinson is just not conservative enough for Davis fans. Of course, neither is all but one of the thousands of county clerks.
Now I've been pretty hard on Davis already, but one last thing still bothers me. Call me quaint and old-fashioned, but there's the matter of the oath of office. Both Guffey and Davis took oaths to defend the U.S. Constitution. Guffey kept her oath of office until circumstances changed so drastically, she believed she could not longer keep it. Then she left. Davis violated her oath by keeping the office that required one. Then she flouted that oath by making a big show of breaking it.
If Davis can't keep both God's law and man's, she should pick one.
Commentary on 09/12/2015