2010-06-12
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels Wants a Truce on Social Issues
I know what you're thinking, "That short Governor Daniels is betraying us on social issues," and you're probably right.
Here's the rationale behind Daniels' line of thought, though. Republicans will never win the debate on social issues. For every few people that say they want to outlaw abortion, there are a few more people that say it should be a woman's right to do with her body whatever she wants. It doesn't matter if fetuses start talking in the womb on the day of their conception, there are some people who fundamentally take that position.
What Governor Daniels is implying with this proposed "truce" is that Republicans can't lose on economic and fiscal responsibility issues. And he might be right about that. We're witnessing first hand what progressive economic policies are, and even progressives don't like them. If the 2010 and 2012 campaigns were limited strictly to economic issues, the Republican Party would completely obliterate the Democrats.
The problem with that idea is that the abortion issue is the most important domestic policy issue for (I dare to say) most conservatives, myself included. Sure, we're willing to fight other battles, but the pro-life battle is not something we can just give up on. The most important job of the government is to protect the people, but the government has sanctioned the mass murder of millions of unborn Americans. How we can call a "truce" on that issue and be expected to sleep at night is beyond me.
Now, in the defense of my Governor, there might be a little strategy involved. As I wrote above, we would completely obliterate the Democrats on economic and fiscal responsibility issues alone. The Governor might be taking the back room position of, "Okay, we'll win on economic issues and with our potential super majorities in Congress and State Legislatures across the country by 2013, we'll be able to more easily reform the social laws within the United States."
There are two significant problems with this line of thought, however. First, and perhaps most obviously, it's begging for the creation of a third party. Second, and perhaps most damaging for the conservative cause, is that progressive Republicans will more easily be able to slide under the radar without the social litmus tests and we won't likely realize it until they're voting with Democrats on key legislation.
With that said, there are some social issues that we should be seeking a satisfactory compromise with Democrats on, including the heated issue of gay marriage. Truth be told, we're not going to win this fight. I guarantee you that gay marriage will be the law of the land in 50 to 60 years unless we compromise here and prevent it from getting to that point. Travis and I have discussed this on his show and written about it a few times on this site. A compromise that would eliminate all marriage laws in the United States and replace marriage with a "civil union" for government and other legal purposes (taxes, hospital visitation, insurance, and so forth). It would then be up to the churches to decide just who should or should not be married. This allows traditional churches, like the Catholic and Orthodox Churches to continue their ban on homosexual unions while allowing more contemporary protestant churches to do whatever they want. If a protestant church wants to marry two men or two women or a man and his dairy cow, nobody outside of that church would be forced to recognize it. But legally, men and women could form civil unions, with or without marriage (or an intimate relationship for that matter).
Governor Daniels isn't a "social progressive" and I hope everyone realizes that. He's a politician and, I think most Hoosiers will agree with me on this, Governor Daniels is the kind of a person who is going to say what he wants to say and do what he wants to do, even if people don't like it. Yet despite that, he's a successful politician. That's probably why I like the guy so much.
