The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

We're just a few weeks away from the August 3 primary election, and all the races are heating up. The Democrats have one local race, plus a hot race for their gubernatorial nomination. Republicans have a whole slew of local races to decide. The 3rd ballot party, Libertarian, has a contest for governor, of local interest because one candidate, Randy Langkraehr, is from Warrensburg. Then, there’s the three ballot issues.

The local issue is the new jail. It would raise county-wide sales taxes by 1/2 cent until the jail is paid for, then roll back most of the tax. There's plenty of information on this one out there.

One issue would allow a casino "boat" at Rockaway Beach in Taney County about 15 miles from Branson. The Branson powers oppose it, possibly worried about how it might affect both revenues and wages. The existing gambling interests also oppose it. Interestingly, the devil may be in the details since the state share of revenues won't go to the general educational formula but will go to schools selected by some other method.

The most controversial issue is the same-sex marriage ban. It's another one of those confusing ones – if you're against gay marriage, you need to vote yes, if for it vote no. There are other considerations besides the obvious one of traditional morals versus individual rights. If gay marriage were recognized, it would create additional entitlements that government and employers would have to recognize; that's an economic impact. If it weren't for the tax and entitlement aspect, there'd be no reason for the government to be involved in licensing marriage between consenting adults.

How Missouri votes on this will probably make no difference anyway, as there is already a state law banning gay marriage here; a federal law says Missouri doesn't have to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere. A federal constitutional amendment to define marriage has little chance of passing. So vote your beliefs in full confidence that whatever the result, you're sending a message that won't make a lick of difference in the long run.