Our brief govoreet through the letter-hole was not, shall we say, satisfactory, yes?

One thing I’ve never understood about the GOP is how the party seems to be on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to the role of government.  The party is based on less government.  Less taxes.  Pro personal property rights.  Lax gun laws.  Etc.  Yet when it comes to supposedly moral issues, such as abortion, legalization of marijuana and gay marriage, the government suddenly has and wants a right to intervene. 
 
I very much respect the religious aspects of these issues.  I understand the passion that is felt by those for and against such issues.  But one need not be in personal favor of abortion or gay marriage to not want those issues to be legislated, especially when it goes against everything else that voting segment believes.  Fundamentally, it’s about realizing and respecting that we live in a society in which people have differing views. 
 
With that, it was stunning to see the recent arguments about the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.  It was stunning in that it went as far as it did.  There are only what, 20 something amendments.  THIS issue is the one that deserves an amendment!?!  Amending the Constitution isn’t an easy task, requiring the votes of two-thirds of the members in both chambers of Congress and approval in three-fourths of state legislatures.
 
In the first round of debate in the Senate, the bill only received 48 votes, 12 short of the necessary amount needed to push the bill further along in the process.  I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it makes one think.  The administration has had a pretty successful track record when it comes to pushing through major legislation.  It seems odd that they would push forward with this in a situation that so obviously didn’t stand a chance of being successful. 
 
As El Duderino sees it, there are two potential reasons for the administration pushing this forward.  The most plausible situation is that the administration, recognizing waning support for the situation in Iraq, recognized the need to bring forth an issue that would polarize the nation.  Many pundits on both sides of the political spectrum have noted that gay marriage has the ability to be a wedge issue in the same way that abortion was a wedge issue how many ever years ago.  The GOP no doubt has numbers that state that the numbers would be in its favor if it were to bring this issue into the limelight. 
 
Secondly, the administration is using the gay marriage debate to divert attention from its own failures.  Some in the liberal media have noted that there seems to be a trend of “terror alerts” being issued each time news arises that portrays the administration in a negative light.  This happened most recently after the Senate Intelligence Committee announced its findings.  Shortly after the report was made public, a vague warning was issued about the potential for the presidential elections to be interrupted by terrorist activities.  Of course, the elections are still four months away, and there didn’t appear to be a specific reason why that story came out at the time it did. 
 
Smoking-gun proof?  No.  Seems fishy?  Yes.    
 
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: A Clockwork Orange
Character: Alexander de Large
Setting: Young ruffian Alex and his droogs have descended upon a home in the country where they intended to unleash a bit of the ol’ ulatraviolence.  Upon initially being denied entry by the female homeowner, despite Alex’s pleas of his entrance to use the phone being a life-and-death matter, Alex breaks into the home through an open window.  He recounts his previous conversation with the homeowner before ultimately killing her with a knock to the head with a fallic statue. 
The quote is relevant to this story how?: Clockwork Orange is set in a time and place where lawlessness runs supreme.  The prisons have become overrun with inmates and the government has reached a boiling point in which it decides to take aggressive actions to counter its social ills – that action being the brainwashing of its down-trodden and immoral citizens.  It’s such fear that seems to drive the Christian right. If we don’t legislate those who don’t prescribe to Christian values, that our world will descend into anarchy. 
 
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.