Cal Thomas, one of the most widely circulated
religious-right columnists, seems ready to admit defeat on
same-sex marriage. In his
latest column he bitterly laments what this nation has come to,
then writes:
"'Pro family' groups have given it their best shot, but this debate is over. They would do better to spend their energy and resources building up their side of the cultural divide and demonstrating how their own precepts are supposed to work. Divorce remains a great threat to family stability, and there are far more heterosexuals divorcing and cohabiting than homosexuals wishing to 'marry.' If conservative religious people wish to exert maximum
influence on culture, they will redirect their attention to repairing their own cracked foundation."
Can't argue with that. As columnist Max Boot writes in an L.A
Times piece headlined
The Right Can't Win This Fight:
"Faced with virtually inevitable defeat, Republicans would be wise not to expend too much political capital pushing for a gay marriage amendment to
the Constitution. They will only make themselves look 'intolerant' to
soccer moms whose views on this subject, as on so many others, will soon be as liberal as elite opinion already is."
Be prepared for continuing shifts in both public and elite opinion - for the next few years, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
(Thanks to Walter Olson for the heads up.)
- Stephen H. Miller
Warning: Litigation Ahead
I was just reading about individual retirement accounts. It
seems there is something called "Spousal Exceptions to Minimum
Distribution Rules," which means that a surviving spouse can roll a
late spouse's IRA over into the survivor's account, and withdraw
these funds over his or her life expectancy -- maximizing the
benefit of the tax-deferred (or tax-free, with a Roth IRA)
compounding. Yet another of the myriad ways in which legal marriage
is treated as "the real thing." But will Massachusetts same-sex
couples be able to claim such benefits, in light of the federal
Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of
state-sanctioned gay marriages? The road ahead is going to be
extremely litigious, it seems.