said Böhner spokesman Kevin Smith in an email to CBS News. It's important to note that he includes religion as something worthy of special protection. Of course gender is not currently given special protection, and religion is hardly "immutable" or innate or the product of genetics, but we're quoting Republican leaders here, who can't be expected to be rational or consistent, not normal human beings.
"He does not support adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes,"
Rep. Tom Price, who heads the GOP conservative
"We believe all hate crimes legislation is unconstitutional and places one class of people above others,"said a spokesman for Buck. Perhaps this is all about principle, despite all appearances, yet it seems like yesterday to me when segregation was the backbone of American Conservatism and the exclusion of ethnic groups from neighborhoods and hotels was de regueur and fiercely defended by people like Barry Goldwater. Of course I think it's not about egalitarian sentiment at all. I think it's that if you took the license to preach hate away from the far right religious faction that owns the GOP, they'd be out of business.
You have two choices when developing a political movement or party...
ReplyDeleteYou either rally people to you via a belief that government can lead to better things, or can improve upon a state of nature or....
You rally the people to you via a belief that the wagons must be circled and that we are under attack and a way of life is threatened...
One relies on a higher ideal and the other relies on fear...
Neither of which rely on logic but that is another problem altogether.
You have two choices when developing a political movement or party...
ReplyDeleteYou either rally people to you via a belief that government can lead to better things, or can improve upon a state of nature or....
You rally the people to you via a belief that the wagons must be circled and that we are under attack and a way of life is threatened...
One relies on a higher ideal and the other relies on fear...
Neither of which rely on logic but that is another problem altogether.