Another Election Year Stunt (and they tried it last time, too)

I was reading reuters.com today and stumbled upon another folly of our dear Republican controlled senate. They are trying to pass a constitutional ammendment banning same-sex marriage in the United States. Again. Now, what I learned from this experience last time was that this kind of stunt is pulled during an election year. Bush decided it would be a good plan to push through this half baked idea in 2004 in order to mobilize his right wing, Christian conservative base so that they would vote for him come the presidential election on the basis of his moral crusades as opposed to his perceived ability to govern fairly and competently (neither of which he can do).

I think the clearest sign that this is a political stunt is the huge number of other, more important things the Senate should be worried about. It seems that in an election year the Senate is not particularly worried about passing pressing socially and economically relevant legislation, but rather dawdling on issues, although important, that are not of immediate concern. The legislature is not going to be bombed because of this, neither is it going to cause the country to fall in disarray because of stock market is tanking. The job of the Senate right now is not to pass an ammendment saying you're not allowed to marry the person you love. Their job right now is making sure the government does not continue acting illegaly against the best interest of its citizens.

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee's top Democrat, said the gay marriage ban was a waste of time for a committee that needs to tackle a wide range of other pressing issues, from judicial nominations to oversight of the National Security Administration's domestic-spying program.

I'm thinking this will go the way of Prohibition.