Chris Crain has a solid post on the Democrats and gay rights that hits most of the points, but I don't think he goes far enough.
I think it's time to start organizing a "Stay Home" election day movement specifically targeted at Democratic candidates. The message is simply this: More than lip-service, or we don't vote at all.
I'm with Crain on being tired of empty "equality for all" statements when they're not backed up by specific plans. I've said it before an I'll say it again: I don't care what any candidate's personal beliefs are until they start interfering with his or her ability to govern under the Constitution. This is one reason I voted Green in the last Illinois state election: neither the Democratic nor Republican candidate for governor could get past the "I personally believe. . ." theme. That's not what I asked. The same goes for Clinton, Obama, Edwards, or any other candidate for president.
I'm not looking for any of the national organizations to do anything substantive. They keep crowing over how many Democrats have been elected, and just exactly what has that done for us? It's had some results in statehouses, but in Washington, where HRC is all cozy with the movers and shakers, our issues are being steadily downgraded in priority. It doesn't help that the Democrats had to move to the right on social issues to get elected. That just makes the HRC's victory dance all the more hollow.
On the marriage issue, particularly, it's fine for right now to be working at the state level, but we've got a lot of constitutional amendments to repeal, and the Dobson Gang is going to be fighting that tooth and nail. And, of course, someone will jump the gun on it, before HRC is ready (which it will never be). There have already been marriage cases filed in federal courts, and with the Supreme Court as it stands now, more than willing to follow Scalia's specious arguments about what rights the Constitution does and does not grant, getting to that level would be a disaster. (The whole terminology here is upside-down -- the Constitution does not "grant" any individual rights -- it confirms them.) However, the Congress needs to be prepared to act to deal with what happens in the states, if for no other reason than to forestall action by the Court, and there I think Crain has it right.
3 comments:
I hope your "Stay Home Election" is confined to the primary -- I'm convinced that the Democrats would have won beyond Republican chicanery in both 2000 and 2004 if it hadn't been for the voters who insisted on casting ballots for marginal third-party candidates, Nader being only one of several clueless self-centereds I could name. Conservatives never, never skip an election, so staying at home amounts to giving them your vote. There really is no way to avoid choosing between the bad and the not-so-bad in national elections -- if you don't vote for one party, you're automatically voting for the other, and electoral reform is a long way off.
I was mostly just being cranky. I'm fed up with the Democrats making mealy-mouth about the interests of one of their major constituencies.
Actually, the Republicans may find themselves in the same boat, if the Dobson Gang keeps turning its nose up at the major contenders.
And electoral reform may be out of the feds' hands -- a couple of states have already passed bills giving their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Need a few more, but it seems to be a trend.
Bottom line is that we need to bring pressure to bear on the Democrats, and the national gay rights groups don't seem to be able to do that.
I feel better, then. And I absolutely agree with you that (a) we need to really put the screws to the Democrats about gay rights and (b) the so-called national gay rights organizations aren't getting the job done. I do cut the Democrats some slack nationally because they represent such a wide range of attitudes, from almost-conservative to very progressive, and have historically been harder to herd than cats because of their constituencies. But it's definitely time to bring pressure to bear. As far as the Republicans losing votes because of Dobson's followers, I wouldn't bet on it. And I certainly wouldn't allow a false sense of complacency about a declining conservative base keep me home on voting day (when I actually vote absentee, anyway, just to make sure my ballot is counted exactly as voted).
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