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National NewsConservative News
Time for Democrats and Republicans to Put Up or Shut Up
By Gary Palmer
Posted on: June 16, 2006
The failure to garner the 60 votes necessary to bring the Federal Marriage Amendment up for a vote in the U.S. Senate is further evidence of the disconnect between the politicians in Washington and the voters in the states. On the day after the voters in Alabama overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment to prohibit the legal recognition of same-sex marriage, 48 U.S. Senators voted against giving the people of the United States the same opportunity to vote on a federal marriage amendment.
Seven Republicans including John McCain (AZ) voted alongside 40 Democrats and one independent, Jim Jeffords (VT), to prevent the Federal Marriage Amendment from coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
Among those who voted against the amendment are twelve senators from states that have already passed amendments to protect marriage. Since 1998, 20 states have amended their constitutions to prohibit the legal recognition of marriage between homosexual couples. Prior to the approval of the Alabama amendment, the average support for these amendments has been 71 percent. Alabama's amendment was approved by 81 percent of the voters.
Apparently, some Republicans and all but one of the Democrats in the Senate think that there is no real mandate for amending the U.S. Constitution to protect marriage. Many politicians have concluded that the public is divided over the issue and that opposing an amendment to protect marriage will have no political consequences. For instance, a recent Gallop poll indicated that support for such an amendment was a bare majority of 50 percent.
However, in that same poll, 58 percent said that homosexual marriage should not be recognized as valid under the law. Which raises the question, "Where do the people really stand on the issue?" The answer to this question might be found in those states that have already passed constitutional amendments.
For example, prior to the vote on the amendment in Alabama, no poll indicated anywhere near an 81 percent approval. One poll done last year by Auburn University indicated that only 58 percent supported the amendment. Polling prior to the vote in Missouri showed only 62 percent supported their amendment, yet 71 percent voted for it. Prior to the vote in Kansas, support for the amendment was also only 62 percent, but their amendment was ratified by 75 percent of the voters.
Obviously, if the polling in these states is indicative of the reliability of the polls in general on this issue, support for an amendment that prohibits legal recognition for homosexual marriage is much higher than the politicians think.
Another state to consider is Oregon, one of the most liberal states in the country and a state carried easily by John Kerry in the last presidential election. If any state is a test case for where the public really stands on legal recognition of homosexual marriages, it may very well be Oregon. It was there that homosexual rights activists felt they had the best chance of defeating a state marriage amendment. And even though opponents of the Oregon amendment poured about $2.8 million dollars into the campaign to defeat it, it was still ratified by 54 percent of the voters.
The problem in Washington is that the politicians in both parties do not believe that protecting marriage with a constitutional amendment is very important to the general public. For many of them, it is just a way to manipulate their base…Republicans appease their social conservative base by forcing a vote and Democrats appease their liberal base by opposing it.
While both parties are out of touch on this issue to one degree or another, the Democrat leadership seems completely and totally disconnected from the rest of the public. Throughout the debate over the Federal Marriage Amendment, supporters of the amendment were subjected to a barrage of insults from Howard Dean, chairman of the Democrat National Committee, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (NV) and Senator Ted Kennedy (MA). In fact, in a Boston Herald editorial, Sen. Kennedy wrote, "A vote for this amendment is a vote for bigotry - pure and simple."
According to them, anyone that supports amendments that prohibit legal recognition of homosexual marriage is a bigot. Moreover, Howard Dean said, "Democrats are committed to fighting this hateful, divisive amendment and to fighting similarly discriminatory ballot initiatives in states across the country. We strongly oppose any attempt to write discrimination into law - whether it be at the local or state levels or in the United States Constitution."
Those are strong words, but completely lacking in sincerity.
If liberal Democrats such as Kennedy, Reid, and Dean really believe that prohibiting homosexual marriage is bigotry, then why haven't they done anything about it prior to now? Kennedy has been in Washington for 44 years, and Reid for 20 years. They could have introduced statutory legislation or even a constitutional amendment to legalize same sex marriage at any time.
But they didn't.
Words mean something and Kennedy, Reid and Dean either mean what they say or they don't. If they really mean what they are saying then they and the Democrat Party should make the legalization of homosexual marriage their top agenda item in this fall's elections. They should go to the American people and convince them that homosexual marriage is a right and that it is good for America.
The same goes for the Republican leadership. If they really believe protecting marriage is important, they will make protecting it a top campaign issue.
The truth is Democrats and the Republicans lack sincerity on this issue. Otherwise, they would put their political future behind their words and prove that they really believe what they are saying. In other words, they would put up or shut up and let the voters decide who they think is right.
America May Vote 'None of the Above', May 28, 2006.
The Cause of Child Poverty, August 29, 2005.
Property Rights Latest Victim of Activist Judges, July 1, 2005.
Time to Pass the Healthy Marriage Initiative, June 11, 2005.
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