In the 2007 legislative session, Rep. Chisum filed a bill that among other things would make a couple wait two years before they could get a divorce and require pre-nup classes. A resident of Pasadena, Mr. Wallace Henderson, wrote a letter to the Houston Chronicle about it:
Gentlemen, & Ms. Hughes
Now I have seen everything. Hard nosed “conservatives” adopting the most bleeding heart liberal stance. Rep Warren Chisum and Sen Dan Patrick’s stand on the so-called pre-nup classes are the classic examples. In all my 60 years of political observation, I have never seen a sharper reversal of roles. The “Liberals” want the government out of our daily lives, and the “Conservatives” want the government to interfere in our daily lives every chance they get.
The Constitution would describe what the government should do, and what it shouldn’t. The government should do only what the people cannot do for themselves. Otherwise, the government should not be involved in our daily lives. There is no more sacrosanct contract than that of marriage. Rep. Chisum and Sen Patrick now want to remove the sanctity of that contract and make it just another contract to be overseen by the government. They would have couples treated like school students by requiring them to pass their own form of TAKS test. You pass my test or you can’t get married. Or, in the worst case, you pass my test or you can’t get divorced. The depth of the disagreement is not a consideration.
[snip]
I was divorced 15 years ago and did not go immediately in to poverty. My ex-wife did not go into poverty. Where’s the great savings? My ex-wife and I were separated 3 years before the divorce became final. We had plenty of time to think about what we were doing. The extension of time limits on finality is merely another attempt to interfere in the way I run my life-and contrary to “Conservative” (Read that Religious Radical) belief, it is MY life.
It would appear that Garnet Coleman (A Democrat of all things!) is the smartest of them all. His philosophy of “Just Stay Out Of The Way” is the only one that will work. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Don’t label me a religious radical-I’m a CONSERVATIVE.