I never get over Thom Hartmann's way of sorting things out. It just speaks to me. And like his constant guest Bernie Sanders, he does it without hysteria, without EVER being a blow hole, and always with civility---and even sometimes, with poignant and powerful gentleness. Not to mention great intelligence, compassion, and respect for his audience.
So today Hartmann made the point that watching gay rights become a reality state by state, battle by battle, is a wonderful thing. It was another example of his typically nuanced approach to things--- the appreciation of where states rights and doings can trump federalism.
His brilliant point, to me, was that when the SCOTUS issued their ruling on Roe Vs. Wade, we never had a state by state vote that abortion should be illegal. And in fact, in retrospect it was a rather startling shift for this country. It was illegal one day in most states, and legal the next day.
His point was that because the argument was NOT had on a state by state basis---to the point where those states refusing to go along were isolated and embarrassed, it has remained an issue that was really never settled in this country. And of course, one that the GOP has been able to use to throttle up votes forever (so much so IMO, that the argument could be made that the GOP hopes Roe Vs. Wade is never overturned---what then?!) IOW, we didn't reach a consensus on abortion BEFORE the SCOTUS ruling.
Conversely, gay rights are becoming an inevitable reality, not through any SCOTUS ruling, but as state after state votes for marriage equality, and even in states destined to be the last on the list, their state judges in lesser courts than the SCOTUS, are undoing their attempts to ban gay marriage.
It's the drip, drip, drip, success of patience and inevitability. It's the argument had BEFORE any SCOTUS can tell us all what we think. State by state, judge by judge, business by business, neighbor by neighbor, we ARE coming to the conclusion that we cannot be who we claim to be and deny gay people, or anyone else, their civil rights.
Now, that is not to say, and I'm certain it's not what Hartmann meant to say, that there should be any regrets about Roe Vs. Wade. It was the right decision for most of America, still to this day, although you wouldn't know it listening to today's hapless GOP.
But simply to say, life is surprising and the right thing gets done in all kinds of ways that surprise us, and challenge any ideas we have about there being just one way to get something done.
While many of us may have wished that the SCOTUS would have long ago cleared up what is to us, a clear denial of our constitution when it comes to gay rights, there is a certain beauty in what is happening now, the visible and somewhat amazingly fast falling dominos that just may end this once and for all in a way the SCOTUS can't.