Oct 17 2008
How Conservatives Use Cultural Wedges to Divide America
The most high-profile ballot measure this November, Proposition 8, looks likely to pass with the latest polls showing a win for the Yes side 47-42%. Prop 8 seeks to amend the California state constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman, and was put on the ballot in response to a state Supreme Court decision earlier this year that overturned a same-sex marriage ban. Since that court decision, thousands of same-sex couples have tied the knot and are not sure what their marriage certificates will mean if Prop 8 passes. A concerted and well funded effort by right wing religious conservatives has proliferated a deceptive ad campaign that flipped the poll numbers in a matter of weeks. The ads contend, among other things, that same-sex marriage will be taught in public schools if proposition 8 were to fail. If the state constitution is amended, the Supreme Court will be required to uphold it. Opponents of Prop 8 are pulling out all the stops to defeat Prop 8, with LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the California Teachers Association and others donating more than $3 million to the effort.
The battle in California closely mirrors one that happened in the state of Massachusetts, which is the topic of a new documentary out in theaters today. Saving Marriage, produced and directed by Mike Roth and John Henning, chronicles the monumental battle over allowing same-sex couples the right to marry.
Saving Marriage is screening at the Regent Showcase Theater, 614 N La Brea in Hollywood, 90036. For more information, visit www.savingmarriagethemovie.com.
Alongside such issues as abortion, teaching evolution in schools, the right to bear arms, etc, the issue of same sex marriage as a way to drive a wedge between Americans is a long-favored tactic of the Republican Party. A new documentary called Boogieman traces these types of tactics to Lee Atwater, a young man from South Carolina who showed Republicans that they could win races by using symbols of American patriotism, by whipping up cultural resentment, racism, and religious bigotry, and by ruthlessly planting rumors and lies in the media to tear down an opponent.
5 Responses to “How Conservatives Use Cultural Wedges to Divide America”
The wedge was driven by liberals when they advocated the change in the status quo and allowed gay marriage in CA. I guess your republican conspiracy assertion is as logical as a liberal can get considering your mental defect.
Two weeks and three days for a surge to work. Talking about cutting welfare is something that ingratiates a president-elect with Congress. Most people don’t hear anymore, because the rich are always getting welfare.
Actually it’s not a lie at all that same-sex marriage will be taught in school. That has ALWAYS been the agenda of the gay rights folks. It’s happening in Massachusetts right now. The curriculum is in all public schools from kindergarten up and parents have no legal right to opt-out. Thus all parents are forced to have their children taught this sexual choice as being normal. Very sad and very detrimental to our children and our families. They plan on this exact same thing happening in Ca.
The whole thing started when whites and blacks were allowed to wed. Some things are unnatural. That’s why Satan is ruling America today. What will happen if a product of miscegenation is allowed to attain the executive mansion? Surely god will punish America as no nation has been punished before!
10-21-48
The McCain stampede starts today!!!
Obama doesn’t want to win the election–he wants time off to visit his sick family member!! That won’t get you votes in the U.S. Lots of people want days off to visit their sick family members–but only the folks in the senatorial classes get them. Obama suffers from the same disease as Kerry and Gore–he doesn’t want to win, and he won’t lose anything if he loses. McCain’s Reagan imitation isn’ quite good enough to get him a victory on its own. But with Obama’s help, McCain can still win! Don’t count on any of the polls being right south of the Mason-Dixon Line, if they say McCain is behind. McCain is still a little bit ahead. All Obama has to do is lose a state or two, and the threat of a Democratic presidency will be annulled.
Neither candidate can help with the current catatrophe. And, after all, economic cataclysms are only painful to the poor, who can mostly be prevented from voting. In the case of the U.S., that’s the majority of people who work without time off for far less than the average income that McCain and Obama think their fictive middle class receives. (By the way, when the modal income range is as far below the average income figure as it is in the U.S., there may be problems brewing, no matter how many crises are solved by cutting rations to poor people. It’s true, when a poor person dies very few people cry–you aren’t allowed to cry on the job at most employers, and people need their jobs too much to let their emotions get in the way.)
In just two weeks, we’ll see who has the misfortune of being elected–I call it misfortune, because finally, when all the politicking is done, the truth will have to come out, and someone will have to tell the People: “We’re sorry! Dreams are mostly only for those at Yale Law School! The rest of you are here to work and serve your betters, just as in every prior human generation. You’ll always be in debt, you’ll never get out from under–and neither will your children! This country is for us politicians, the lawyers, and our clients! If you don’t love it, leave it, while you still can!”
Part of the Congressional benefits is never having to say you’re sorry to anyone who has an income of less than five million dollars a year. But the President is another matter. The People can disapprove of such a visible Servant. They can place blame. After four more years of falling wages, benefit cuts, and higher prices for every necessity, folks will be ready to blame someone. Even with another fantastically successful war in the Middle East as a diversion, as planned by both major party candidates, some may choose to fault the Executive for the rest of their dwindling lifetimes. But politics is not a profession for the overly sensitive. The governance has been, for many years now, a playground for the wealthy and the occasional would-be wealthy who happen to be ruthless enough to succeed at winning votes.
Hey–it’s the American Way–that’s why everybody’s so happy with it!
Forecast for Change–maybe Santa Claus will bring you some for Christmas, if you believe in him hard enough. Do you THINK you’re better off than you were x years ago? You’re older. You have less, you owe more. “Take all you have, and buy some politicians…” to paraphrase a more or less well known phrase.
One candidate is five cents and the other one is a nickle. Which is worth more? Well, if you can think of a sum as small as five cents, there won’t be much chance for you under either party, and your vote won’t be counted anyway!
The American people firmly stated their desire for change in 2006. The politicians make decisions, though. For them, there is no right or wrong, it is always, What will get ME the most, now and in the near future? What promise can I renege on next and gain the most?
(TO BE CONTINUED)