New York University Study Won’t Go Over Well with the Far Left

Yesterday, Dr. Patrick Egan with the Department of Politics at New York University released a study covering a decade of research on political polling on homosexual marriage efforts. A scientific look at 33 state ballot initiatives since 1998 reveals that the homosexual demands groups are not making any headway convincing Americans that two men equal a mom and a dad.

The study finds that in spite of homosexual demands groups routinely outspending the defenders of marriage in political campaigns, voter opposition does not really change from the beginning to the end of a referendum battle. 

From Maine to California, from Florida to Wisconsin, Americans consistently oppose the radical redefinition of marriage in the midst of the most pro-gay culture in American history. The study found that support for having both genders represented in a marriage also does not change regardless of the size of the homosexual population in a state that is mobilized.

The other finding of significance is that polls consistently underestimate the opposition to the redefinition of marriage by an average of 7% less than the vote on Election Day. Obviously more people oppose same-sex marriage than are willing to say so, which is understandable given the way in which “tolerance” is forced upon Americans. (As columnist Cal Thomas often says, “intolerance is the only nationally recognized sin left in America today.”)

Interestingly, I have recently heard that the Indiana Republican Party once again has a poll showing64% support for the passage of a Marriage Protection Amendment. With this New York University study, the reality is that most likely seven-out-of-ten Hoosier voters actually support protecting our marriage laws. In spite of this, the Indiana House Democratic leadership, under the control of Speaker Patrick Bauer, has blocked such a measure four separate years.  Each time there was always an estimated 65 out of 100 votes waiting to defend marriage on the House floor.

Just a Reminder that We’re Natural Allies, Not Sworn Enemies

Yesterday, I perhaps unwisely, conceded to speak with an assistant to a famous Washington, DC insider who seems to love to stir up division between social and fiscal conservatives. You may have occasionally heard this person debate radio talk show host Laura Ingraham over his criticism of Governor Sarah Palin and other issues.

They were fishing for any juicy local criticism of Governor Mitch Daniels regarding his calling for a “truce on social issues,” which I did not provide.  The most critical thing I said was that we sometimes seem to have different priorities. I don’t know what will become of my comments, but I doubt if my explanation that there need not be a division between social and fiscal conservatives will show up in any Washington blog or newspaper. 

Here is the message I think needs to now come out of this “controversy.”  Social conservatives have largely failed to adequately explain how we are actually quite often fiscal conservatives’ best ally. A social conservative is almost always also a fiscal conservative who also supports smaller government and spending restraint. 

The opposite is much less true.  Many fiscal conservatives are not social conservatives. Ironically, social liberalism and fiscal conservatism often have contradictory outcomes.  Social conservatism leads to smaller government and fiscal restraint. Scarcely a dollar is spent today in Washington, DC outside of the defense budget that isn’t in some way or another linked to a breakdown of the family or the decline of societal values and morality.

As Frmr. Governor Mike Huckabee pointed out in an e-mail this week, “The fact is that every value voter I know is truly committed to fiscal conservatism, but many fiscal conservatives and libertarians range from disinterest to contempt for social issues. ??I learned a lot during 13 1/2 years as a Governor and Lieutenant Governor about why government gets big and taxes get higher and what causes and solves the issues of poverty and crime. Here’s the simple truth: poverty and crime are the direct results of broken families and broken values of responsibility, work, marriage, and respect of others. Prisons are overflowing and government “relief” programs get traction often because of the breakdown of our social structure. If we don’t respect the value of each individual life, whether in the womb, or the classroom, or the living room, we devalue property and intangible qualities of life. It gets expensive.”

Similarly, President Ronald Reagan’s all-star scholars’ Report to the President in 1986 concluded, “It is no accident that every totalitarian movement of the 20th century has tried to destroy the family. The essence of modern totalitarianism has been to substitute the power of the State for the rights, responsibilities, and authority of the family. Everywhere the equation holds true: where there are strong families, the freedom of the individual expands and the reach of the State subsides and contracts. Where family life weakens and fails, government advances and intrudes, and ultimately compels. Somehow the bottom line was always the same: government would take resources from families . . . in order to “help” them.”

In short, social conservatives are often the greatest ally of fiscal conservatism and limited government, but we have not always explained this message as well as Governor Huckabee or the “Great Communicator” Ronald Reagan did. I believe this is one part of the reason why this recent controversy has some of the support it has received from those who may mistakenly see a great divide between two parts of the this political movement. If there is a divide, it is in many ways, philosophically unnecessary.

What Indiana Really Needs in this Lousy Economy is More Business Regulations!

The South Bend City Council has revived a controversial ordinance it rejected last year following significant public opposition to the measure. The divisive, politically-correct ordinance creates new regulations upon, and legal liabilities for, businesses in the city surrounding the hiring or firing of people involved in homosexual behaviors. (This liability can apply even if the business owner isn’t aware of what sexual choices their employees may make in the privacy of their own homes.)

Homosexual demands groups in Indianapolis have been targeting several cities in Indiana with money for training and activism efforts to pass city ordinances which they have acknowledged came from theGeorge Soros funded Tides Foundation. Some people think that this is part of a strategy to ultimatley challenge Indiana’s marriage statutes.  Such ordinances are often used as justification for recognizing homosexual relationships as the same as marriages between a man and a woman.

The South Bend City Council will consider the controversial employment ordinance on July 12th.

We Have an Official Congressional Contest in Northeast Indiana

Congratulations to State Senator Marlin Stutzman on his impressive victory this weekend! On Saturday, Republican precinct committee members met to fill the ballot vacancy left by the resignation of Congressman Mark Souder. With a very strong showing on the first ballot of 180 votes from among fifteen candidates, Marlin easily gained the 24 more he needed to win on the second ballot. This November Marlin will face Democrat Tom Hayhurst, a former city councilor, and a doctor, from Fort Wayne who ran a solid challenge to Rep. Souder a few years ago.

The Incredible Shrinking President

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I thought that this humorous new political cartoon of President Obama and Former President Jimmy Carter said far more than I ever could in this e-mail.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Congressional Races, Obama, Politics, Pro-life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.