Bruce Brown believes in ideals that are the fabric of every human being in living a purposeful life. Politics should be about citizens who yearn to be more and who seek more in their leaders to create a society of honor and forethought. These principles are bigger than any political party or candidate. Adopting these principles will harness the power of “we the people” to create the society we seek.
GOVERNMENT RELATED PRINCIPLES
America and Freedom
America is the greatest nation on earth – in no other country can each and every citizen be all they can be.
America is great because of freedom, not our wealth. Freedom is from where great things come.
Freedom allows the best of humanity to rise, to be “the shining city on the hill.”
Freedom is an incredible gift won for Americans by our founders.
America is worth dying for to protect our freedom as hundreds of thousands of citizens have for us.
America is a system of government in which the citizens hold the consent to be governed.
If we trade freedom for security, we will lose both (paraphrase of Benjamin Franklin).
No controlled society has ever empowered its citizens.
Conservatism
Our Founders wrestled with four concepts for four years because they knew that government of the people, by the people and for the people required that the people have these concepts inside their character in order for Freedom to survive. They knew they could not be codified and hence, we were given the “Great Experiment In Democracy.”
Freedom requires a moral society and this is why the first Amendment states “Congress shall make no law ….. prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Freedom requires our leadership and representatives to be dedicated to preserving our Freedom and to serve the people with honor.
Freedom requires an informed society – people must have information to elect and manage their citizen representatives.
Freedom requires a Free Press to sound the alarm when our Freedom is threatened.
Conservatism IS the preservation of these four principles along with our founding documents – The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Over one million people have given their lives to the preservation of Freedom. We honor those people and give meaning to their sacrifice by continuing their work.
Our Constitution/Federal Power
Our constitution is the bedrock of our freedom – it must be defended or freedom can be lost.
Our Constitution was ratified by the people – the citizens agreed to live under it.
Our Constitution should live and breathe only with amendments ratified by the people.
Our Constitution defines three branches of our government – Executive, Legislative and Judicial.
The three branches provide management, rule making and referee
The referee does not make the rules of the game.
The Judiciary has the potential to usurp power rightly vested in “we the people.”
This approaches the creation of a totalitarian few that our founders fought so hard to free us from.
“We the people” must be dedicated to keeping this from happening – it is our freedom being taken.
When the Supreme Court cannot find the words it needs in our Constitution, send the case back.
The Constitution is almost clear on the limits of Federal Power
“We the people” have allowed Federal power to grow beyond all practical limits.
Federal, State and local governments each have their role and Federal is usually the least efficient.
The Federal Government has continued to take power from the States and “we the people.”
We the people must work to keep Federal power and cost limited, as well as State and local.
Governing
All issues are best solved by starting with the question – “What is right?”
Government is necessary to provide order to a free society, but must never control society.
Government’s role is to keep society honest and safe – not to control society.
Governments cannot provide financial security or health security, it does not work.
America is governed by the people for the people and “we the people” hold all the power.
American government is a Representative Democracy, not a pure democracy
“We the people” must always be diligent in selecting and supervising our representatives.
We the people must exercise the power vested in us to prevent self dealing, unfair gain and corruption.
Bureaucracy
If your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like a nail.
Government has one management tool – bureaucracy.
President Reagan said government is not the solution, government is the problem.
What he meant was that government “bureaucracy” is the problem.
That one extra word allows the debate to be won.
Bureaucracy cannot allow initiative, it has no reward for excellence and it attracts like minds.
American business has been ruthless in cutting through bureaucracy for efficiency.
There are functions only government can perform and we must cope with those bureaucracies (DMV?)
Since we cannot eliminate bureaucracy, we must limit government to essential tasks.
It is seriously destructive to society to have the government spend money making things better.
Perhaps our representatives could spend their time thinking of things that would make us better.
Perhaps then, citizens could start businesses doing those things if they actually made things better.
Politics
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Government attracts those seeking power as well as those seeking public service.
Politics is the business of getting elected for the privilege of representing “we the people.”
Politics interferes with governing and “we the people” must be diligent to keep our representatives focused.
The political war to exercise power is the biggest threat to our freedom and way of life.
The founders envisioned a citizen government and not a permanent political class.
“We the people” must be constantly on guard against those candidates seeking only power.
Conservatives must seek office to serve the public good.
Taxes
The power to tax is the power to destroy (even by accident).
The debate on the impact of raising or lowering taxes is symbolic of the pathology of our political process.
We must demand a single authority for economic taxation models, similar to the Federal Reserve.
The tax system is our revenue and it needs a high level of expertise focused on its behavior.
A citizen legislature debating “taxes up” or “taxes down” is silly and our country deserves better.
The debate to fix this will help us evaluate our representatives.
Expanded Federal Power has grown the Federal budget beyond all reason.
We must adopt a “critical” test at the Federal level and every expense must be critical to our survival.
We cannot afford our legislatures thinking of new ways to spend money to make us better.
“We the people” must show the will to stop government spending.
A reporting system such as “Executive Summaries” for bills would help us track activity better.
Business has learned that the more top heavy an organization is the less effective it is.
We have local and state governments as well and organizations should be smaller at the top.
We have reasonable control of our state and local governments and we need to control the Federal.
Personal Responsibility
Each individual is responsible for their own financial support, healthcare, retirement and happiness.
Government’s role in social welfare should be a minimum because that which is subsidized increases.
Welfare is used to build dependence on government away from the family.
Society has a responsibility to offer a helping hand to others in need.
The debate is government vs. the private sector, not caring vs. not caring.
Conservatives must reject the label of uncaring with a vengeance.
Private citizens donate billions to charities that function far more effectively than government.
Government should only be the last resort.
Entitlements
Social Security and Medicare represent a massive expense.
No business would allow programs of this magnitude to become buried in a large bureaucracy.
Al Gore’s “lock box” was in fact a badly needed concept.
We the people need to demand a report on where the people’s cash went since there is no lock box.
Entitlements threaten to destroy our society which seems to be the opposite of their intent.
We the people need to demand that a civilian audit commission be established to monitor entitlements.
It is just too much money to leave unguarded and unmanaged.
We the people need to demand financial statements and responsibility on these programs\
Health Care must never be allowed to become an entitlement.
Government should never do anything the private sector is doing because it will be worse.
We must seek actual solutions to health care issues, not government solutions.
Government provided health care is a power grab by government, not a benefit to our society.
There may be no greater limitation of our freedom than through government control of our health care.
Government has no rational basis for controlling health care cost or believing it can.
If fifty million people are added to the healthcare system overnight, the services do not exist for them.
Our citizen Representatives debating taking over healthcare is just silly.
Administration cost is the only health care cost variable and business helps off-set this cost for employees.
The best solution is for everyone to have their own health insurance and a vested interest in its cost.
People must be able to choose the level of coverage they want for their budget.
As a minimum, people must have emergency room care policies.
The incentive to acquire skills to get higher wages to get better insurance must be maintained.
It is absurd to believe that healthcare is a right. This is politics at its worst..
At best, the role of government is to study government impediments to a transition to individual policies.
Government has no rational methodology for innovation in health care.
Capitalism
Capitalism is the economic system that provides the biggest benefit for the most people
Capitalism thrives on initiative and opportunity.
Any and every person can thrive under capitalism
Capital flows to where it produces the highest return
The private capital markets have massive resources needed to make allocation decisions
Government has no rational basis for making capital allocation decisions except for its own defense needs.
Government will always be wrong when competing with private capital.
Controlled economies are proven to not work for the people, including the early days of the Pilgrims.
The danger of capitalism is negative monopoly behavior.
Government has a role in preventing monopoly harm as evidenced by anti-trust laws
Government has a role in keeping markets honest – but should never control.
A Nation’s economy has three universal components that touch everyone.
Taxes – we know what happens when taxes get too high
Interest – we know what happens when interest rates get too high.
Energy – it is critical that a nation secure the lowest total cost energy sources to thrive
The cost of alternate energy sources must be driven down to the lowest cost before adoption.
War
Throughout history, there have been rulers seeking to project power beyond their borders to such an extent that force is necessary to stop them.
With rulers who do not share our values, “negotiation” cannot be the final solution.
Neville Chamberlain’s “Peace In Our Time” is the ultimate lesson in the failure of negotiation with those determined to use force.
Overwhelming force and the willingness to use it is the best way to avoid the need to use force and the least costly position when it needs to be used.
POLITICAL RELATED PRINCIPLES
Health Care
Health Care affects everyone and represents a historical opportunity to get an issue right.
Senators Kennedy and Clinton’s belief in Federalized health care does not make it right or wrong.
Government should not be taxing or borrowing to make our lives better – even with health care.
If government is to solve any problem, the actual problem must first be identified.
Cost, delivery, administration and insurance are all significant factors related to health care.
What problem is being solved?
If health care costs are rising, efficiency and value judgments are the answer, not government control.
If health care delivery is the problem, the Federal government is not the solution
If health care administration is the problem, the government is not the solution.
If health care insurance is the problem, “single payer” is the largest risk pool.
However, the lack of efficiency of such a pool may in fact more than offset the gain.
Medicare has been managed for 45 years and before any expansion is contemplated, a thorough outside review should be accomplished.
An effort greater than congress is making to federalize health care should be made to develop private sector solutions and the two alternate paths should be evaluated.
The emphasis MUST be on the best solution, not the government solution.
Immigration
There is no such thing as “Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” there are three separate problems.
Illegal’s in the country, stopping new illegal’s from coming and specific labor shortages.
We must control our borders and immigration for an orderly society.
Illegal immigration is not a solution to any labor shortage.
If labor shortages exist, every effort must be made to fit American citizens into the shortage.
A downside of easy student loans is the removal of a tremendous labor force form the labor pool.
People in America illegally must go back to their home country and get in the back of the line.
It is offensive that the rule breakers are favored over those following the rules.
Any person caught here illegally must never become a citizen, ever.
There should be no benefits to being in the USA illegally – none.
Our politicians have failed us miserably on this subject by viewing illegal immigrants as future voters.
This is a disgrace and “we the people” have tolerated it too long.
We categorically reject the notion that standing for rule of law and standing for tax payers is a negative.
Education
Education is about learning, not spending.
The massive amounts of tax money poured into education have made education worse, not better.
A massive bureaucracy has been created which has destroyed local control and parental involvement.
The bureaucracy stifles initiative from principals and teachers who would otherwise lead the way.
A large bureaucracy also becomes agenda oriented for issues beyond learning.
We the people need to re-take control of education at the local level.
Private Schools teach better for less because they have no bureaucracy.
Charter Schools are an attempt to create a bureaucracy-free school.
We already know this works from private schools so this is a waste.
Vouchers are an attempt to break the system.
We already know sending students to private school works so this is a waste.
It is critical that we BREAK UP THE BUREAUCRACY.
This is a big challenge but we start with the PTA’s and work our way up.
It will not take long for bureaucratic thinking to surrender.
Public school teachers are public employees.
Negotiations between unions and business are constrained by market forces and competition.
Teachers unions influencing school budgets are analogous in business to unions bribing company officials for higher union benefits.
Teachers unions have no right to use membership dues for political activity.
Environment
The earth will achieve the same temperature for all political parties.
All political parties breathe the same air and drink the same water.
Using Best Available Technology (BAT) is a simple concept with which we all agree.
Minimizing pollution is a simple concept with which we all agree.
The desire of the people for the cleanest solutions in energy, manufacturing and transportation is universal.
Water will not flow uphill no matter what congress passes.
When a political party gets too far ahead of energy production technology and at the same time limits existing production technologies, the entire American economy can be destroyed.
When this happens, the rest of the world will continue to pollute – the exact opposite effect.
A thriving economy is the only possible long term solution to producing the capital required to develop the solutions we need.
The Democratic Party’s total disdain for low cost energy production is fatal to America.
The Democratic Party’s misrepresentation of this issue to take political ground is fatal to America.
Symbols of Freedom
Israel, Taiwan and the Ukraine are true symbols of freedom in our modern day world. They are also symbols for those countries who seek to take away freedom for all mankind. All three are small countries “dancing between the toes of an elephant” to remain free. We must always do every thing we can to make sure these countries remain free as a measure of our own commitment to freedom. As the bumper sticker says with great clarity – “Freedom is not free!” We have to want it badly.
UNITING THE DIVIDE PRINCIPLES
Overview
“We the people” have allowed our political debate to divide America causing irreparable harm.
Social changes are being forced beyond their importance by taking the debate to court.
By definition, court is a win-lose forum and by taking social issues to court, a winner and a loser is created.
People have a right to go to court but judges do not have the right to make law – they just do not.
A lady named Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) was pregnant from a rape and had an abortion.
At best, this case should have only legalized abortion in cases of rape.
Our country has never been the same since Roe vs. Wade.
“We the people” must keep debate with the people or there will be very bad long term consequences.
In a closely divided country, adopting a wedge group’s issue can decide an election.
It is in this context that the rhetoric of debate has been allowed to falsely demonize Conservatives.
Defending freedom, life itself and traditions that have served us well are to be applauded.
It is a tragedy of our time that our debate has been reduced to society’s worst labels.
It is essential that we the people reject the labels of racist, bigot, intolerant etc as weapons of debate.
This is important enough to say twice – we must reject the labels of racist, bigot and intolerant in debate.
We the people must also question the force driving this rhetoric and reject it as well.
Race
Conservatives have no racist beliefs what so ever – NONE.
The “painting” of conservatives as racist by the left is one of the great tragedies of our time and the failure of Conservatives to defend themselves against this charge is an equal tragedy.
This Conservative Movement rejects any label of racism in any form.
America is one generation from eliminating racism as a concept in society.
Young people today do not have the concept in their minds.
The last vestige of racism is the racism industry with the Rainbow Coalition as the prime example.
Conservatives ended slavery and as a follow up were the deciding force in ending discrimination.
The majority of racism dialogue centers on African-Americans and we need a new dialogue
As a 92% voting block for the Democratic Party, how is that working?
In 1970, 28% of Black families were headed by single women, today it is 50%.
Black young men have a 25% chance of going to prison.
Not even Democrats vote 92% Democrat.
To totally explode all of the stereotypes, all the prejudice, reject the Democratic Party as a voting block.
This would demonstrate a level of empowered individual thinking that will lift people to great heights.
It is conservatives speaking to equality, it is conservatives speaking to empowerment and it is conservatives speaking to improving the circumstances that cause the above data.
Religion
God and religion are two different entities and this is critical to resolving our debate.
We need two concepts of God relating to our government and our religions.
In our government, God needs to be only the symbol of a power greater than ourselves from which our rights as humans are derived.
This is the only way our inalienable rights can never be taken away by anyone – ever.
For example, the “right” to abortion was granted by seven people and five people can take it away!
A much better society will result from an Amendment defining God as a symbol of a higher power than to remove God as a concept from government.
Religious organizations are dedicated to “doing good” and are the heart of society’s morality and spirit.
Morality has to come from “we the people” or government becomes too powerful.
Numerous social organizations such as Scouting and charities also play this role
Totalitarian governments seek to eliminate religion from society to destroy people’s free will.
Passing an Amendment with the meaning of God in our government will end a divisive debate.
We must not lose “in God we trust” and “under God” or we lose the very essence of freedom.
Atheists do not understand this concept by definition and therefore cannot be allowed to destroy it.
The second amendment has a two part line on religion – (1) “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, (2) OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF.”
The second part is too often ignored in separation of church and state discussion.
Exercising religion is constitutionally protected behavior – go for it with all you got!
The humanity of society is a powerful argument to substitute for faith based positions in policy debate.
This eliminates the separation push back and forces debate of the issue, still from strength of position.
Seven of the Ten Commandments make for a better society and the message should be adopted as a secular concept reminding us of the moral value of religion in our society.
Conservatism’s Seven Commandments:
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder
Neither shall you commit adultery.
Neither shall you steal.
Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife.
Neither shall you desire anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Life
Science and society have evolved to the point where “intellectual thinking” has outstripped the Constitution with Life issues.
The Constitution only references “born” people (in the 14th Amendment.)
The ability to sustain a premature birth is getting closer to conception
The ability to conceive a fertilized egg outside the womb is here, artificially creating “potential life.”
It is critical to society that we resolve these issues in favor of the value and sanctity of life itself.
Government and life intersect without consensus in three areas.
Abortion, manipulation of fertilization and end of life issues are the three.
These issues must be kept in the legislatures and the constitutional amendment process with the courts being exceptionally cautious with intervention.
“We the people” must be allowed to craft the solutions to these issues.
“Life begins at conception” is the only definition that will work for all situations.
The beginning of life and when life gains the protection of the constitution are two different questions.
We define end of life – death – as the cessation of brain activity. Perhaps the opposite has merit.
Society allows for the justifiable taking of life such as accidents, self defense, criminality and war.
It is in the “justifiable” context that the abortion debate should take place, not in skewing definitions of life.
Except for war, all other life taking jutifcations are left to the states.
Pro-Life, Pro-Choice and Pro-Abortion
Being Pro-Life is the essence of humanity and this is sufficient justification for society to be Pro-Life.
Societies that value life thrive, those that do not, falter.
Religious arguments are not required to be Pro-Life, only one’s humanity.
Being Pro-Choice means sitting out the debate in a position of neutrality.
The debate is about life and death, choices between which there is no neutral position.
Does anyone respect Switzerland’s neutrality in World War II?
Why is it that politicians promoting Pro-Choice always seem to working to stop the Life choice?
Conservatives understand Freedom and Conservatives understand that women have circumstances that seem worse than ending a pregnancy.
There is an enormity of help available to support women in getting through these circumstances.
Unwanted pregnancy uses only seven of the one thousand months in a woman’s life.
With help, women can get through this most of the time and know they did the right thing.
Conservatives stand for love, charity and giving from the heart.
Advocating that being Pro-Life, the essence of humanity, is a heartless position is the very worst of politics.
Conservatives must speak for Life as the abortion industry can buy a political voice; the unborn cannot.
There are psychological issues with having an abortion totally ignored by the Supreme Court.
Norma McCorvey regretted her abortion and became a pro-Life advocate.
For the sake of humanity, the political influence of the abortion industry must be eliminated.
The Democratic Party’s inability to find a single ethical issue, not even one, should send a chill.
Conceiving an unwanted pregnancy is not a responsible behavior, it just is not, especially for adults.
Giving irresponsible behavior more weight than life itself diminishes society.
Society has devalued sex with its removal from interpersonal commitment – it should not devalue life
It is a fact that some women will obtain abortions and a caring society must allow for this.
The damage to society from an extreme position on abortion is far greater than the perceived benefit.
Evidence is overwhelming that outlawing abortion does not eliminate abortion.
Politics has failed us by using life issues to take political ground rather than achieving solutions.
The society we seek to create will draw on its humanity to reduce abortion dramatically.
This conservative movement will fight to get this debate resolved.
Preventing Unwanted Pregnancies
Preventing unwanted pregnancy needs a much higher profile and efficacy.
Girls have a 95% chance of a middle class life by graduating from high school and waiting to get married before having a baby.
“Do not get pregnant” is the single most effective anti-poverty program there is.
Getting pregnant has huge consequences and the message has to be as strong as possible.
“Don’t get pregnant” has to be the lesson, birth control mechanics are not enough.
Depending on sex education in school to prevent pregnancy is a wrong headed enterprise.
The school has no moral authority, only biological and technical facts.
Teaching sex education in our schools beyond biology weakens the parent child relationship.
If parents believe the school is doing it, the parents do not, but the school has a weak message.
The Abortion Industry
Planned Parenthood has a $Billion revenue from 290,000 abortions. The influence Planned Parenthood is able to buy is a disgrace to humanity and a huge ethical dilemma. As a society, we do not sell body parts; our blood supply is managed as a non-profit entity but the abortion industry makes massive profits from people’s most difficult moments.
What is especially insidious is using those profits to grow their market by encouraging women to make a decision many suffer from the rest of their lives; bribing politicians to grow the scope of what is legal and by controlling sex education in our schools to suppress the ethical message of the importance of not getting pregnant.
If the left truly believes in harvesting the profits of an industry, this is the industry on which to start. We have gasoline taxes to generate highway funds, its time for abortion taxes to support foster care and other programs for counseling and prevention. Government grants to Planned Parenthood are absurd on their face and must stop.
Roe vs. Wade
The essence of conservative government is that the people’s voice be heard.
“We the people” will get to the solution that most people want – what ever that solution is.
A judge’s decision always produces a winner and a loser and never provides the win/win outcome our legislative process is designed to produce for the most Americans.
The danger of Roe V Wade is that it usurped power from the people rightly granted in our Constitution.
This result has all but frozen our Federal government and incredible damage has been done as a result.
Roe V Wade is such a poorly written decision that if written by a legislature, it would be tossed by the Supreme Court as vague and ambiguous – the ultimate irony.
The Roe V Wade case was about the propriety of abortion in the case of rape – a strongly supported position.
How the court leaped from the case to adding words to the Constitution is still in dire need of understanding.
Overturning Roe V Wade only returns abortion to the states where some abortion was already legal.
CA, NY, MA and other states can be expected to have legal abortion within minutes of Roe’s demise.
The abortion debate is much more manageable at the State level.
Roe vs. Wade is a very dangerous precedent for power vested in the hands of the few.
We the people must prevent this.
The Family
The family unit is the anchor of a free society. No government has ever done better.
Throughout history, families have provided the social security system for a society.
Throughout history, families have provided the morality of a society in concert with religion.
Throughout history, families have taught children how to live in a society.
The effort to destroy the Family as the central unit of American society is fatal to America.
Our education system is especially problematic in this area.
Government has a vested interest in promoting families for the above reasons.
Marriage is the starting point of the traditional family.
In the strictest sense, marriage is what “we the people” say it is.
Unlike individual constitutional rights, civil marriage is an entity created by government for a purpose.
Any gay man without exception can marry any woman and any gay woman can marry any man.
Traditional marriage does not discriminate against anyone.
Creating same gender unions is the job of “we the people” just as marriage was created by “we the people.”
Letting judges make law in this area will do permanent harm to our freedom.
Our founders fought to the death to protect “we the people’ from power in the hands of the few.
Sexual Orientation – Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transsexual (GLBT)
GLBT issues are super-charged emotionally because of religious teachings and long standing tradition.
Religious teachings and tradition are worthy of respect
And, the freedom of the GLBT community is worthy of respect.
It is wrong to demand religious freedom and at the same time persecute others through government.
Sin is a faith based concept, not a conservative concept and is not part of conservatism in government.
This Conservative Movement does not use “sin based” arguments in the GLBT debates.
People have a right to self-identify in any sexual orientation they are born with, need or wish.
There is a debate as to whether sexual orientation is a personal freedom or a Civil Right.
Civil Rights protection is granted to protect minorities from the “tyranny of the majority.”
Until sexual orientation is codified as a Civil Right, it is not a Civil Right – that is the fact.
Forcing GLBT issues on the assumption of a Civil Right status that does not exist is harmful.
Judges are doing just that and it is grounds to push back on them.
Society places limits on sexual expression – lewd acts, pornography, nudity – in public for all orientations.
Society also limits sexual behavior in private with prostitution laws and prohibition of sex with minors.
Society places no limits, controls, restrictions of any kind on race, creed, national origin or gender.
This is how a Civil Right is defined – the “qualifying condition” is unilaterally protected in public.
GLBT, as well as all (almost) thought and speech is a first amendment right already protected.
The case for the “tyranny of the majority” against the GLBT community has not yet been made.
Marriage and family issues are the only issues in major play and neither have a single reference in the Constitution as to their existence – they are contrived entities the same as a driver’s license.
Even separate status for women has not passed as their Equal Rights Amendment remains fallow.
But at least the fight is where it should be – in the hands of the people.
GLBT Families
Sexual orientation clashes with society when attempts are made to expand into marriage and family.
Sexual orientation and family unions are totally separate concepts.
A man and a woman are required to make a baby and numerous laws dictate responsibilities in doing so.
Same gender families just cannot do this and that is a fact.
It does not mean that surrogates cannot be used but it does mean they are different in nature.
The GLBT group with mandatory surrogates may in fact need additional considerations.
Judges cannot resolve these issues in win lose cases.
Same-gender family unions have no way to distinguish between hetero motivation and GLBT motivation.
This is an especially dangerous area for whole cloth judicial decisions to be crafted.
The point of our legislative process is to craft the best possible result.
Traditional families and marriage have numerous advantages to society but they are not perfect.
GLBT families have advantages as well.
Once people vote for gay adoption, it seems a gay family structure is mandatory.
If a judge can decide what a marriage or family is, a judge can decide it can be anything.
This judicial behavior is so fundamentally wrong it must be rejected as a concept.