TOTAL LICENSING
White collar and blue collar separate further. on whether we stop the Gay Marriage jug- the charisma Palin’s
Americans pick and choose lifestyles. The old gernaut in California is Armageddon”. (that’s a brand is culture war.
sortings of labor vs. management, people of pretty big word) She preaches the “us
color vs. white neighborhoods have weakened against them” mental-
to less importance. Pastor Rick J. Cole (the Sacramento Bee): “Gay ity of the Republican
marriage is not a positive development for soci- base, not the kind of
Availability of a church you like is important. ety. The primary purpose of marriage is to pro- message that wins you
38% of Americans state that they go to church vide a loving secure and healthy environment for a national majority...
every week or almost every week and for those, children and children need the balance of male in 2012, Palin’s tribal-
church and its activities become a social center. and female guidance in their life. Why should ism will be an even
society endorse some strange new experiment tougher sell to a nation that’s turned its back
Within the chosen environment everyone lis- in which kids conceived through artificial in- on the rancor and nastiness of the Clinton and
tens to the same morning news and can discuss semination are raised by two mommies or two Bush years.
it over lunch or dinner with like-minded col- daddies.
leagues. We like our choices validated by the On the Republican Defeat
people we surround ourselves with. We don’t Randy Triezenberg (The Sacramento Bee): “If
like controversy. gay marriage continues we’ll be teaching our Mickey Edwards, former Republican congress-
children only that marriage is important – so- man (The Daily News): “Do we Republicans
We are not so much listening as we are talking ciety’s way of recognizing and supporting loving believe in the government, or not? Our party
to ourselves. And with regional and opinion uni- partners who commit to each other. How is has been exiled because our office holders had
formity, the South and Midwest move away from that a threat to marriage? Let’s not forget that contempt for government itself, substituting
the coasts. The country, it has been said, has sixty years ago, inter-racial marriage was also partisanship for competence. That’s why we
split into a blue and a red nation where we are considered a’ sin’ by religious conservatives botched Katrina and Iraq and transformed the
pretty evenly divided with independents bounc- and it was illegal in many states. Norms change, Justice Department into Carl Rove’s right arm.
ing around in the middle. institutions evolve”. If Republicans are to have a future, we must
nominate principled professionals instead of an-
There was a pop hit in 1973 which had a line Abortion: Two Catholic voices. gry partisans”.
(from Stealer’s Wheel) “clowns to the left of me, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke recently trans-
jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle ferred to Rome from the Archdiocese of St. Lou- For a bit of comic relief – an Internet joke
with you” is declared the Democrats, the “Party of Death”. I received
Bishop Robert J. Hermann, the Church’s interim
The media “is no longer the monolithic opinion leader in St. Louis invoked “judgment day” a half A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was
making force it was, even eight years ago, in the dozen times in a column leaving no doubt that lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a
Bush/Gore conflict. Cable, Internet and prolif- Catholics should decide their vote on the basis man in a boat below.
erating blogs offer all of us filters from which of abortion alone.
we can choose our influences. We can even lis- She shouted to him: “excuse me, can you help
ten to the opposition sometimes, even if only to Bishop Nicholas Di Marzio of Brooklyn warns me. I promised a friend I would meet him an
“spy on them”. the church about moving towards endorsing hour ago but I don’t know where I am”
candidates: “it goes against our tradition to do
SELECTED CULTURE WAR
that, it hasn’t done any good for the candidate, The man consulted his portable GPS and replied
COMMENTS SHOWING
for the church, or for conscience. Bishop Di “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately thir-
Marzio laments: “people want black and white ty feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet
THE BATTLE LINES AND IS-
answers rather than the whole legacy of moral above sea level. You are 30 degrees north lati-
SUES
analysis and reflection that the Catholic Church tude and 100 degrees west longitude.
can offer”.
Dick Polman (The Philadelphia Inquirer):
She rolled her eyes and said “you must be a Re-
“America used to be a meritocracy but it is
On Sarah Palin: publican”.
now becoming a mediocracy. In a nation where
Fred Barnes (The Weekly Standard): “once
every Little League team gets a trophy we are
the dust has settled from 2008 and the GOP “I am”, replied the man, how did you know?
now dumbing down the standards for public
searches for a nominee with the “middle-class
service requiring that candidates remind us of
magnetism” to win a general election, they may “Well”, answered the balloonist, “everything
us. Experience is secondary. For instance there
come to realize the enormous asset they have you told me is technically correct but I have no
was Michael Brown the former FEMA chief,
in Palin. As a serious Christian, mother of five, idea what to do with your information and I’m
who learned everything he knew about disas-
and fearless slayer of male political big-wigs, she still lost. Frankly you’ve not been much help
ters while working at the International Arabian
has convinced heartland conservatives that she to me”.
Horse Association”.
is “one of them”.
The man smiled and responded: “You must be a
Gay Marriage: Charles Colson, prominent
Peter Beinart (the Washington Post): “Beneath Democrat.”
Evangelical and former Nixon aide: “This vote
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