NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Gay marriage is one of those debates that has no middle ground. It's as politically divisive as abortion, the death penalty and gun control. You can't win either way on any of these.
Gay marriage makes for great political discussion. It's a social issue. It's a religious issue, but it's not a winnable issue for either Republicans or Democrats in this election. The single most important issue in this presidential election year is the economy, period.
Gay marriage is nothing more than a distraction from the real issue that could make or break this country and that's the entrenched recession: The lack of jobs, the housing market collapse, the volatile stock market and the over-reliance on Middle Eastern oil.
All that the issue of gay marriage has done is paint Republican Mitt Romney in a corner as the "conservative" family values candidate, which takes away more moderate votes he might otherwise get from former supporters of Barack Obama, the Democratic incumbent, who has swung in favor of it.
All the gay rights issue does is take the heat off of Obama's handling of the economy, which doesn't show any real signs of improving any time soon. The more Romney has to defend whether he bullied a gay classmate when he was a kid, the less he can go after Obama on the economy.
Those swing voters who supported Obama the first time around might be more inclined to consider the moderate Republican Romney, except that by appeasing the far right, Obama gets a time out from having to defend his failed economic policies. With Romney taking a firm stand on the gay rights issue and his campaign emphasizing that stand, he alienates voters.
Conservatives like myself know that it's a waste of time and resources to win an ideological battle and lose the war. Real conservatives who want a change in the presidency understand they need to keep their eyes on the prize: It's the economy, stupid!
Conservatives like myself know that it's a waste of time and resources to win an ideological battle over social issues like gay marriage and lose the war. Real conservatives who want a change in the presidency understand they need to keep their eyes on the prize: It's the economy, stupid!
I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I can say that because I am inately heterosexual. My prurient interests are for the opposite sex. I don't necessarily agree with the gay lifestyle, but it's not in my place to judge how adults adults choose to interact with each other in the bedroom -- gay, straight or otherwise.
We need to get back to the economy. Obama has a lot of explaining to do in defending his record and Romney has to further define his own economic policies if he is to win the White House. The clock is ticking to November. There's too much at stake to be distracted by the sexual mores of consenting adults.