Way back when, on May 17, 2004 the state of Massachusetts gave same sex couples the right to marry each other. While this was a monumental victory for the LGBTQ community, unleashing an intense freedom and sense of possibility in the minds, the spirits, and the physical bodies of each person in a same sex relationship in Massachusetts and beyond, one has to wonder about the power that a governing body like the State has over the lives of those who chose to live or work under its authority. Articles like this from Wikipedia remind us that such governing bodies [shall?] only have authority over that which they are granted by the collective, while this VT Digger article highlights how a state can artfully question the impositions of international authority on behalf of its citizens, and this Slate article delves deeper into the complications of a "higher" Federal authority to refute state sovereignty in the matter of same sex couples. The will of the people underlies the sovereignty of both the U.S. federal government and the states, but neither sovereignty is absolute and each operates within a system of dual sovereignty. According to the reservation clause of the Tenth Amendment, the federal state possesses only those powers delegated to it by

Imagine a room of round tables, each of which seats eight people from a diverse spectrum of cultural, economic, political, religious and physical circumstances and beliefs. Their task? To fairly divide one big slice of the best chocolate cake ever baked. (for argument’s sake it is gluten- dairy- and all allergen-free so that it can be enjoyed by everyone). What scenarios could we expect? The Best Chocolate Cake Ever Created Someone might propose using a scale to weigh their slice of cake and divide the number by eight, then somehow dividing it into eight equal parts. But some would have more or less icing than others. The ones with more icing might say they don’t even like icing and feel uncomfortable with others’ stares of jealousy. Maybe they’ve had these stares their whole life and have simply gotten used to saying they don’t like icing just to mitigate or stave off the stares. Maybe they don’t even know if they like icing?! Or maybe this is the first time in their life that someone else has been jealous of something they had, so they are inclined to completely revel or bask in the glow of others’ envy… Some at the table might say they don’t want