Common Sense

Raw Story has an excerpt from tomorrow’s NY Times about the Senate’s debate on gay marriage and flag burning.

Though some Republican candidates may relish the Senate’s current concentration on same-sex marriage and other ideologically charged topics, Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island does not.

“It may stir up my primary voters a little bit against me,” said Chafee, a centrist Republican up for re-election who opposes the push for constitutional amendments to prohibit same-sex marriage and is under intense pressure to back a proposed amendment that would forbid flag burning. “I’m collateral damage.”

Other Republicans, including some conservatives, say Chafee may not be the only potential victim of what they see as a misguided effort to appeal to social conservatives with hot-button issues such as the marriage ban and the flag amendment. They say the discontent among Republicans that is putting the party’s control of Congress at risk is being driven by other concerns such as health care, the economy and immigration and that replaying the marriage debate could do as much political damage as good.

I can only add to all of this that I’ve written many times before about how stupid this is. Both these issues are misguided in their entirety, not just their intent.

I can’t say much more than I already have about gay marriage. It is exclusionary legislation based soley on people’s personal prejudices and doesn’t serve to help this country one bit. And flag burning, I’ve had to part ways with my own Congressman Chet Edwards over that one.

For the love of God, can Congress and the president do something productive just this once?