Funny, the honey and I were just musing over breakfast this morning....'What will the wedge issue be this election year? Obviously, the GOP intends to scare us with the tried and true: olive-skinned, dark-eyed boogey-men with box cutters. But what will they do to energize their base? Isn't it time they start beating up the gays, again? Aren't our hetero marriages in grave danger - not from ennui, money fights, household fracas, infidelity, or just plain, old simmering female rage at male whatever - but from queers who want to join in our wedded bli.....um, wedded......um....our ability to claim "married" on our tax forms? I love that Bill Maher line....(paraphrase) "why not let the gays marry? Then they can stop having sex just like everyone else."
Rawstory
answers our question. And - surprise! It's gays alright. Phew! I'd hate for the GOP to have to pen new talking points between now and the election. And, hey, why not go with what works? The Republicans will take the "risk" and hope that, once again, poor, blue-collar, working and middle class, church-going whites and African Americans and a myriad of other people who get their politics in small soundbites will vote against their own best interests just so that they can prevent two people, who just happen to have the same reproductive organs, from getting married.
And, how interesting it is that this issue didn't burn white-hot in an off year. It's only on election cycles that marriage comes under threat of attack. Come to think of it, so many things are under attack, our way of life (Islamo-Facsists), our liberties (the Bush Administration), marriage (already covered), the 2nd Amendment (damn lefty gun-control whackos), traditional values (freakin' liberal Hollywood types), our jobs (Corporate America), our gasoline (SUV drivers), the Gulf Coast (toxic mold), our environment (Blue Skies Act, and other ironically-named environmental protection roll-backs), and sanity (all of the above). It might be difficult to get Americans worked up about anything other than "American Idol."
If the Republicans really wanted a "Marriage Protection" amendment to the Constitution, they'd put forth an amendment that says that "all marriages are contractual agreements for the length of ten years, renewable upon agreement of both parties, for ten-year increments for the life of the individuals."
Now that might protect marriage from what we married people (hetero or otherwise) do to it.