Sunday, January 08, 2012

The Exact Instant The Santorum "Surge" Ended ...

Rick Santorum [h/t Donald Douglas @ American Power -- I tuned in late to the debate and missed this part]:

We have to have one law. We can't have someone married in one state and not married in another.

Problem solved:

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. ... No State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Any questions?

As of mid-2011, 53% of American voters supported ending marriage apartheid, and six states and the District of Columbia have now done so.

That trend will not reverse.

Within the lifetimes of most people my age (45), same-sex marriage will not only have been fully legally implemented by all 50 states and recognized by the federal government for tax purposes and such, but advocacy of turning back the clock on the matter will enjoy (and rightfully so) the same political cachet  and public support as proposals to re-institute segregation of public water fountains by race or to accord US Senators the privilege of jus primae noctis in their home states.

Some of the other Republican candidates -- like most Democratic candidates -- can probably get away with pretending to oppose same-sex marriage in order to give the dwindling social conservative bloc a plausible excuse for voting for them. This year, anyway. By 2020, taking that side of the issue will be political cyanide for any presidential candidate, period.

Rick Santorum, on the other hand, obviously does oppose same-sex marriage, which means he has zero chance of winning independents, and therefore zero chance of being elected president. And enough Republican voters will figure that out in time to know that they have to pick someone else if they don't want to have zero chance at the White House too.
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