Lessons from the Dark Side

The defeat of equal marriage rights in Maine was a gut-wrenching blow to gays and civil libertarians alike. There is something profoundly wrong with having to ask to be treated equally by your government. Equal rights should not be subject to vote—the entire purpose of the Bill of Rights was, in Justice Jackson’s memorable words

“to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”

Nevertheless, until that principle is extended to the LGBT community, last month’s election should be an opportunity to consider and evaluate the political options available.

One option—the course of action requiring the least effort—is simply to wait. Every time there is a vote on one of these referenda, those on the side of denying rights to gays and lesbians win by a narrower margin. Poll after poll tells us that most people on the wrong side of history are old; younger voters support gay equality by substantial margins. When my generation dies off, this conflict will be over.

The better option, however, is to take a lesson from the rabid right-wingers who managed to capture the Republican Party in the space of relatively few years. They accomplished that by participating in the party’s grass-roots politics—running for precinct committeeperson, school board, city council. From those relatively humble positions, they were able to support the candidates who agreed with them, and ultimately drive most moderates and a fair number of thoughtful conservatives out of the GOP entirely.

On the same election day that saw same-sex marriage lose in Maine, a number of openly-gay candidates were elected to public office. It is time to take advantage of the willingness of voters to elect gay and lesbian candidates. But in order to do that, GLBT folks have to be willing to get involved at those grass roots.

Let me give an example of what I mean. Here in my own city, I know of at least one openly-gay candidate who intends to go through Democratic party slating, and if slated, to run for our City-County Council. The decision who to slate is made by the party’s precinct committeemen. The most effective tactic the community can use is to encourage as many gay and gay-friendly people as possible to run for precinct committeeperson. I don’t know how it is elsewhere, but in my city, both parties are desperate to fill committeeman slots. Anyone willing to do the grunt work required is very likely to be successful.

Why elect openly gay candidates? Assuming that the people involved are otherwise good candidates—that they will be good public servants who represent all of their constituents—we can expect several outcomes. Let me just suggest two: for one thing, the electorate will see competent people who happen to be gay in positions of authority; that changes attitudes. (If you don’t believe me, think about the impact of Obama’s election in the African-American community!) For another, elected officials can influence legislation and policymaking. If you don’t believe me, look at what has happened to the GOP—and unfortunately, to the rest of us—in the wake of the radical right’s capture of that party. Even when they are unable to pass legislation, they’ve proven adept at preventing it.

And wouldn’t it be satisfying to turn the homophobes’ tactics against them?

The Problem with Faith-Based Contractors

There really is no constitutional problem with government contracting with religious organizations for purely secular services. The state can purchase medical care or babysitting or welfare services from any organization, religious or secular, having the capacity to deliver those services in a constitutionally appropriate way–i.e., without proselytizing vulnerable populations, etc.

A problem that is rarely discussed, however, has become painfully obvious in Washington, D.C.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has announced that it will be “unable” to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city passes a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

So–do we allow religious organizations to make their continued participation in these programs contingent upon the District’s denial of fundamental rights to gays and lesbians? Or to put it another way, can the government give in to demands that its public policies be consistent with the religious beliefs of a contractor?

One of the problems with privatization in general is that too often, it is accompanied by a “hollowing out” of governmental capacity to provide essential services. In such cases, the contractor–secular or religious–has officials by the proverbial “short hairs.”

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Appalling

Senator Lindsay Graham is very conservative; however, he is not one of the extremist know-nothings currently attempting to turn the GOP into a religious/nationalist cult of some sort. And that fact–the fact that he is occasionally willing to work with–gasp!–Democrats–has led the S. Carolina Republican Party to censure him! 

As many who read this blog know, I was an active and visible Republican for thirty-plus years. I ran for Congress as a Republican. As the party moved further and further away from the fiscal responsibility and social liberalism/libertarianism that had attracted me–I left. Millions of others did likewise. Today the party is the mirror image of what it was when we belonged–rather than being fiscally conservative and socially liberal, it is socially conservative and fiscally liberal. And since most Americans do not agree that government should tax the poor to benefit the rich, or that it should intervene to keep people like Terry Schaivo “alive,” or that efforts to extend healthcare (whether one likes the bill or not) are comparable to the holocaust, the “true believers” are making the party’s candidates increasingly un-electable. 

When people as conservative as Lindsay Graham are no longer “pure” enough, you have a party intent upon destroying itself.

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THIS is what drives me crazy…

I’m linking to Political Animal for this discussion of David Vitter’s distortions of the pending cap and trade legislation, but not for the particulars of that legislative battle.

This sort of situation–where someone who opposes a proposal totally mischaracterizes it–has become endemic, and the media watchdogs who are supposed to tell us who’s lying aren’t doing so, for a variety of reasons.

I have a short fuse anyway–just ask my husband–and the routine use of outright lies and fabrications in policy debates is driving me up the proverbial wall!

The Mean Between Extremes

The ancient Greeks used to warn of the dangers of extremism, and advocate for the “golden mean.” Our contemporary circumstances point to the value of that warning.

I posted yesterday about the hateful responses to Elie Weisel’s objection to equating healthcare reform with Nazi death-camps. But the examples extend much farther: the demonizing of Muslims, the insistence by fundamentalist Christians that this is a “Christian Nation” in which others reside only by sufference.

M.J. Rosenberg makes the point forcefully.