Thursday, May 28, 2009

Proposition 8: My Green Dissent

Once again, I must dissent from conventional Democratic Party so-called liberalism.

Read my lips: We are going to see gay marriage become legal in these United States.

This will not come from the courts. Indeed, it would be a disaster for civil rights to bring this matter before the current Supreme Court, even though our "liberal" lawyers, operating on auto-pilot, appear intent on doing so ("Rival Lawyers Team up to Appeal Same Sex Marriage Ban in Federal Court", L.A. Times, May 28th). American progressives are hung up on the mystique of the 1960s Warren Court. Today, Republican presidents and governors have packed the courts. Besides, where did we get this idea that law is a progressive industry? If you know your civil rights, woman's rights, labor, and environmental history you'd know judicial conservatism has been the "norm." The function of courts 90% of the time serving and protecting property and privilege.

Same sex marriage will be legalized by a "silent majority" of fair-minded, civilized, people in this country. 58% of Americans under age 35 back gay marriage today.

Posted on the Web Site for US News & World Report, May 5, 2009
Most Americans Oppose Gay Marriage, but Those Under 35 Back It
by Dan Gilgoff

As a slew of states move to legalize gay marriage, a new CNN poll finds that most Americans still oppose it, though those under 35 are solidly for gay marriage legalization.

The poll finds that just 44 percent back gay marriage, compared with 58 percent of those under 35. The generational gap over the issue is striking: Only around 4 in 10 Americans ages 35 to 64 back gay marriage, and the number drops to 24 percent for those above age 65.

The numbers raise an important question about the strategy of the pro-gay marriage forces: Is their move to start legalizing gay marriage in many states far enough ahead of public opinion to provoke a serious backlash? Or, given the dramatic generational shift in public opinion on the issue, is their timing just right?

In the near future democratically elected legislatures will legalize it, as in Vermont. Reactionary referenda will be *defeated* as Prop 8 would have been if California's so-called liberal Democrat Party wasn't run by cynical, cowardly hacks.

Progressives, let's rediscover the "small-d" in democracy.





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