Why the government should get out of the marriage business
Juan Cole makes a couple of observations then puts up an interesting idea:
My family has roots in Virginia and I apologize about this, but Virginia is just not going to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008, unless Bush has so driven the country into the ground that Americans want anything but a Republican.Michael Kinsley called this "privatizing marriage." And, coincidently, the writers of The West Wing wrote this into a minor sub-plot in last night's show.The Democrats need to find a southern governor with a southern accent who is a Baptist.
They also need to start defusing deadly cultural and "moral" issues that have been so effective for the Republicans. And they need to be sly about it...
The Baptist southern presidential candidate should start a campaign to get the goddamn Federal government out of the marriage business. It has to be framed that way.
Marriage should be a faith-based institution and we should turn it over to the churches. If someone doesn't want to be married in a church, then the Federal government can offer them a legal civil contract (this is a better name for it than civil union)...
[M]arriage is sacred and the churches should be in charge of it.
If you succeeded in getting the Federal government out of the marriage business, then the whole issue would collapse on the Republicans. You appeal to populist sentiments against the Feds and to the long Baptist tradition of support for the US first amendment enshrining separation of religion and state.
What do you think?
Posted by Ara | Link
| Comments
(0)
| digg this
| del.icio.us 
Categories: Democrats
