« For a Moment, at Least | Main | More Zell Miller »
February 11, 2004
It's so Insulting
It's so insulting to sit in the Rules committee and hear again and again how the proposed amendment to the state Constitution will help any children in the state. Of course I wish every child in Georgia could have two parents, and from personal experience having a mother and a father helped. But I fail to see how banning two men or two women from raising a child together will make a single mother or father's job any easier.
It seems there is a much stronger argument (though also wrong) to be made against letting single parents raise children. In the case of a single father, if he dates one woman after another having a new "mother" figure in the picture every couple of months can't be healthy. Having two steady moms or dads and not a changing cast of charaters must be preferable.
I'm encouraged by polls that show younger voters supportive of civil unions (and maybe even gay marriage) and opposed to constitutional amendments or discriminatory laws. At the same time I'm disapointed that the opinions of older Americans may be strong enough to crystalize the status quo for decades after they are no longer even alive.
Here's one thing to ponder: Why didn't conservatives ever propose amending the Constitution to outlaw interracial marriages? Or did they and have I just missed it? What's changed so much in the past 40 years and (speaking non cynically here) what can we do to truly improve the tone of politics?
Posted by Chris at February 11, 2004 07:56 PM
Comments
I don't know the details of the Georgia ammendmant, but I imagine its a lot like the Ohio ammendment, and thus is a big mess of bigoted bullshit. I am torn, because as a moderate democrat and hard core political junkie, I strongly feel that the Democrats need to stop being the party of organic food labeling guidelines and sensitivity workshops and start talking to 'mainstream Americans'about 'mainstrem issues'. That said, I honestly don't think any of us will be able to look at ourselves in the mirror if we don't denounce this sort of horseshit loudly and clearly.
The stakes are SO high in 2004 on matters of fiscal and foreign policy, that I hate the idea of punching a Rovian tar baby of gay rights issues. But at the same time, being on the right side of history HAS to matter in the long run.
As far as what we can do, I think that going on the offensive is the way to handle this. Mainstream america is uncomfortable with gay marriage, but they are also uncomfortable with the christian right telling them they are going to hell for loving the wrong people. Paint this for what it is, a reckless and brazenly political sop to the far right. Bring up that the consitution is an incredibly important cornerstone of our public life, and scratching in this sort of election year hate mongering is divisive and irresponsible. Lastly, point out that if Bush really sees himself as a war president, his top priority would be enlisting the support of all americans for the only issue that mattered--winning the war.
Anyway, thanks for letting me rant
Posted by: Jon at February 12, 2004 02:00 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)