Anti-gay marriage amendment meets goal for Florida ballot
What do you think?
PB— Gay marriage opponents announced today they have collected enough signatures to place on the next year’s ballot a constitutional amendment defining marriage or any similar “legal union” as that between a man and a woman.
“Today, the people of Florida have spoken. And they will speak again in November of 2008. Their message will be timeless and clear – marriage is the union of one man and one woman,” said John Stemberger, an Orlando lawyer and chairman of the Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage.
According to the state Division of Elections Web site Thursday afternoon, the group was 253 signatures shy of the 611,009 needed to make the ballot. But Stemberger said the group had verified more than 612,000 signatures and was urging supporters to keep collecting them and turning them in before the Jan. 29 deadline.
Both supporters and opponents agree that gay marriage ballot initiatives can increase turnout among religious conservatives.
President Bush’s narrow win in Ohio in 2004, for example, has been attributed to the anti-gay marriage ballot question there that helped drive turnout among social conservatives who also voted overwhelmingly for Bush’s re-election.
DEMS Debate
GOP Debate
They would have a stronger amendment if it simply defined marriage without going into the “Union” thing. Personally I’ve always opposed the idea of gay marriage but am somewhat neutral about recognizing “unions” of some type. But as a Constitutionalist don’t see the need to weigh down a document with too many amendments. And with both sides fighting over the use of the word “marriage” it looks like trench warfare.
I should have said with the “gay community” overreaching at this juncture with the definition of marriage and with conservatives going for Constitutional amendments, it looks like a recipe for a protracted battle. And as Ron Paul recognizes conservatives have a finite amount of political capital these days. How do we spend it best?
Whether you agree with them or not, it is a state issue and at least they are going to give the people a chance to decide for themselves what they want. Whether it passes or not, the state level is where it has to be decided.
I don’t know that it is going to help the GOP though. They may find voters do turn out but, even find Republicans still not trusting them.
Jan
I think the issue cuts both ways with voters. Also with real wages and debt issues this will not work in 08.
I agree that the GOP is going to suffer. Now, will the Democrats also suffer. They are in control of Congress at a time when real wages may suffer and the solution to the credit crisis is “more debt” to keep spending going. You don’t have five Central Banks and foreign government sovereign wealth funds trying to help ease our credit unless they are worried our cuts in spending will hurt their economies.
They don’t normally rush, even while our economy is reported to be strong, to “bail out America,” unless there is some degree of panic somewhere.
The economy could very well be the number one issue unless we have another 9-11. Currently, while they won’t really know until into January, they are expressing concern about the shopper turnout this Christmas. They are praying that the sales after Christmas and redemption of gift cards will save the day, it sounds like.
Which party will “stimulate” the economy better? Should they? What will that do to debt, if they do?
Jan
I think Bush is an easy target that will buy time for the Dems in 08.
That is why they need a candidate for the GOP that isn’t tied to Bush or his policies.
Whether some in the GOP him or not, agrees with him or not, Ron Paul is the only candidate that isn’t really tied to Bush enough to be hurt by those ties. Tancredo was another but he has dropped out.
However, anything is possible if this economy turns south. You will see a lot of campaign speeches turn 180 degrees from current speeches as they promise to “end the recession.”
Campaign speeches are one thing during a boom, war, terrorism, etc. and another during peace, recessions, foreclosures, layoffs, etc.
We face some very interesting months as this current situation plays out.
Jan
I agree, the problem is NEOCONS like Bart inside the party do not think they have a problem.
Is it that they don’t think they have a problem or that they don’t have a solution that will let them stay in office when presented to the voters?
Over 1/5 of spending is tied to defense spending. Think of how many jobs and how much GDP is tied to that spending. If you cut Defense spending just in half, you will cause a recession if you don’t spend enough elsewhere to keep employment up.
And much of the spending cuts would be equaled with tax revenue losses from the layoffs caused by defense spending cuts and lower profits. We depend on spending and debt to keep us going. It is like centrifugal force keeping us up while going around the side of bowl. If we slow down, we fall.
And each decade it takes more and more government spending and debt to do it. Everybody in Congress is pretty much aware of this problem but, they don’t have a solution that doesn’t require a recession or depression as the transition takes place.
For thirty years the “doom and gloom” crowd has predicted collapse. For thirty years we have delayed that collapse with more spending and debt. For another year, five years, ten years, thirty years, we will try to use more spending and debt to delay it.
John,
The GOP did have a problem; infiltration by Buchananite isolationists like yourself.
Now that you and some others realized the party cannot be changed to fit your bankruptive ideals, the GOP has a real chance to elect a fiscally responsible conservative candidate who will become the 44th POTUS!
Keep calling those in the GOP neocons…it is hilarious just how little you know.