Working for the government is not an inalienable right. So Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, was wrong to refuse same-sex couples marriage licenses in her office. If you’re unwilling to enforce the law, you shouldn’t be an officer of the state. After all, it’s not a clerk’s job to ascertain the constitutionality or practicality of a law. If it were, we’d have anarchy. There are hundreds of other vocations she is free to pursue if this one doesn’t suit her.

So Davis’s stand isn’t about religious freedom. Not really. Signing off on state documents is not tantamount to being forced, as bakers and photographers have been, to participate in a wedding ceremony. There are certainly bigots out there intent on coercing Christian businesses to choose between their faith and their livelihood; this isn’t one of those instances. If you want to participate in civil obedience, don’t work for the state.

But jail? Davis was taken into federal custody Thursday. She was held in contempt of court for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. She now faces potential penalties, fines, and prison time. She will almost certainly be destroyed. So there are a few things that are worth contemplating here.

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Source: David Harsanyi, http://www.nationalreview.com