"States' rights:" Jeb Bush uses the ultimate dodge.

So . . .  now that Jeb Bush is serious enough about running for president that he's resigned from all those lucrative, corporate positions that made him a wealthy man is just a few post-governor years -- how is he going to tackle some of the tricky social issues?

Like gay marriage -- Florida being the latest state to have a federal judge overturn a state law and allow same-sex couples to start getting married TODAY?

Well, it looks like Jeb has fallen back on that old, last-gasp avoidant stance:    states' rights.    They tried it to justify slavery, and fought a civil war over it.

Now it's become the favorite way to dodge the question of gay marriage used by the less-than-rabid, conservative politicians.   And -- you guessed it.    Old Jeb just trotted it out to explain avoid taking a stand on the issue.

The thing I've never understood is:   How do they decide what's up to the states and what to do nation?    I would think really important things like freedom to not be a slave and freedom to marry whom you wish are so important and fundamental that all United States citizens should have the same rights as every other U. S. citizen.

Why would it be OK for residents of Rhode Island to be protected from enslavement but not those of Georgia?    And why should Minnesota residents be able to marry their choice but not Mississippi residents?

Perhaps it's not logic -- but simply a dodge -- to avoid facing a choice you don't want to make but are ashamed to stand up and say:   I do not favor freedom to marry for this group of people.

So:   VOILA !!!!   Let the states decide.

Nope.   I just don't buy it.    Take a stand, Jeb.   You really think it should be left to the prejudice of the majority of one particular state as to what rights the minority in that state have?

That's not someone I want to have as a president.    Certainly not in 2016.   It was an acceptable compromise 10 years ago, when Massachusetts became the first state to allow marriage equality at a time when it would have been politically impossible to get at a national level.     State by state provided the experiments needed to encourage more and more.   

But we're far more enlightened as a nation than we were even just five years ago.   We're past the tipping point when some 2/3 of citizens do live in states that give them marriage equality.   So now it's time to make it the national standard.

Ralph