View Points

County Clerks & the LAW

“Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” —Matthew 22:21 NAS

Those are the words of Jesus Christ speaking to the confusion some people were having around God and government in the payment of their taxes. I think we need to be reminded, sometimes, that not everyone is a Christian; and, therefore, what is written in the Bible is not written to them and they are not bound by it. No matter how much you want that not to be true, it is absolutely true. Jesus in using a coin minted by the Roman government as an example, asked the people whose inscription was on the coin? They replied Caesar’s inscription and, therefore, they were to pay Caesar what he was due no matter how much they didn’t want to do it. You use what is Caesar’s, you owe Caesar his due. That’s why we pay taxes to the government, because we use services provided to us by the government. There is no way around it. In fact, if you try to get around it you are breaking the law and the government may be coming for you real soon, so watch your back.

We are a people, who are governed by the laws of the land. We have a constitution that is supposed to provide us equal protection under the law and we pay taxes for that very protection. A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court of the United States of America issued a ruling that provided to same-sex couples the rights and privileges that heterosexual couples are afforded through the legal act of marriage. More than a spiritual union, the act of marriage is a physical contract and there are legal benefits and consequences inherent in that contract. Anyone who has gone through a messy or painful divorce can attest to the physical nature of the contract of marriage.

County Clerks are sworn by their local and municipal governments to issue the licenses that allow couples to get married in their respective counties and states. We the people, through our tax dollars, pay the salaries and provide the facilities that house the offices in which these civil servants work. They are the employees of the people in the various towns, villages, and counties around the country. Since they are employees of the tax paying citizenry, they are obligated to uphold the laws that govern the constituents of their respective town or municipality. The SCOTUS is the judicial branch of the government that ALL the citizens of the United States of America are governed by. We are ALL bound by the decisions that The Court renders because we are citizens. We do not get to choose what laws we want to obey and what laws we don’t. If we did, can you begin to imagine the type of anarchy that would ensue?

On the other hand, are there any of us who work for an employer where we get to decide what functions of our job responsibilities we WILL or WILL NOT do? I don’t know of any job where that is the case. YOU, County Clerks, who have a religious conviction about NOT fulfilling the job requirements you were hired by the tax paying citizenry to do, YOU need to either SUCK it UP and DO your JOB or FIND Other Employment IMMEDIATELY. You’re Fired!

Up Next Week: The Flag Came Down, Now What?