Priorities, or Game Playing?
On Fox News Sunday, Bill Frist announced that Republicans intend to bring to the Senate floor two amendments in the near future: One that would ban flag-burning, and one that would ban same-sex marriage.
Let's be clear: I'm inclined to give both issues a full and fair hearing. But it's so obvious, so patently obvious, that both issues are being brought up five months before the election for only one reason: To make up for lost time in convincing religious conservatives that there's a reason to turn out. It's little more than throwing a belated bone to the base.
Don't get me wrong. I'm going to turn out and vote for Republicans come November -- and I hope everyone will. But do senators not understand how this looks? How the scent of pandering fills one's nostrils? And what's most irritating about all of this is the assumption that the base won't understand what's going on.
Not only that, but -- as much as flag burning and gay marriage are important matters -- they aren't really the biggest immediate issues facing America today. And so one is also tempted to believe that they're being used as a way to avoid confronting the really big issues that matter, which are, in Hugh Hewitt's formulation: Winning the war, cutting the taxes, controlling the spending, and confirming the judges. Yes, and securing the border, too.
Get all that done -- and then bring on the constitutional amendments. We'll be ready.
Let's be clear: I'm inclined to give both issues a full and fair hearing. But it's so obvious, so patently obvious, that both issues are being brought up five months before the election for only one reason: To make up for lost time in convincing religious conservatives that there's a reason to turn out. It's little more than throwing a belated bone to the base.
Don't get me wrong. I'm going to turn out and vote for Republicans come November -- and I hope everyone will. But do senators not understand how this looks? How the scent of pandering fills one's nostrils? And what's most irritating about all of this is the assumption that the base won't understand what's going on.
Not only that, but -- as much as flag burning and gay marriage are important matters -- they aren't really the biggest immediate issues facing America today. And so one is also tempted to believe that they're being used as a way to avoid confronting the really big issues that matter, which are, in Hugh Hewitt's formulation: Winning the war, cutting the taxes, controlling the spending, and confirming the judges. Yes, and securing the border, too.
Get all that done -- and then bring on the constitutional amendments. We'll be ready.
posted by LadybugUSA at 9:51 AM
2 Comments:
I agree with you about the flag burning amendment. I don't give two licks about that EVER coming up for a vote. And that's not because I support anyone in doing it, rather that I think there are always going to be much bigger issues to deal with.
However, the marriage amendment is a different story. While I agree with all the other issues mentioned are vital, I also happen to think this issue is as well. Families are the basic unit of any society. If we are not taking steps to preserve and protect marriage -- the basis of a family -- then we are headed for disaster.
As Dr. Timothy Dailey concludes in Homosexual Parenting: Placing Children at Risk, "The complementary aspects of parenting that mothers and fathers contribute to the rearing of children are rooted in the innate differences of the two sexes, and can no more be arbitrarily substituted than can the very nature of male and female . . . [despite] accusations of sexism and homophobia . . . , [despite] attempts to deny the importance of both mothers and fathers in the rearing of children, the oldest family structure of all turns out to be the best."
Children need a mom and a dad. And children need us to protect the institution that protects them best, whether that's fighting for strong marriages, or fighting against no-fault divorce laws and against so-called same-sex "marriages."
It all started with no-fault divorce, and continues to errode on a daily basis. As with all the other problems, it all stems from selfishness.
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