I was sitting in a local bookstore not long ago and overhead a conversation that seemed emblematic of so much of what is going on in this country today. A young man lamented his choice of a mate but insisted he loved her dearly. But every effusive claim of undying fealty came coupled with a “but” that amounted to how he wanted her to change so she would be even better.

The two young men in their late 20s or early 30s sat sipping latte and talking of their world and I could not help but hear as they sat immediately behind me. One was a perfectly representative slacker type. Baseball cap on backwards, sports jersey, reedy mustache, and the newest sports gym shoes revealed his personae. His friend was a backpack sporting, ponytailed wearing, be-speckled type with sandaled feet poking out of the bottom of his torn jeans. They were both pretty representative of generation now with their talk of video games, their admiration of Obama — though without any factual knowledge from which to justify that admiration — as well as their PDAs, cell phones and laptops computers all glowing with use.

Read More →

What happens when a judge asks a beauty pageant contestant in front of a live television audience her opinion about a political question? If you answered that the contestant risks her crown if she gives anything other than the liberal-approved answer, you would be right.

That is what is happening right now to Miss California USA 2009 Carrie Prejean after liberal internet gossip maven Perez Hilton asked her, during the Miss USA competition this past Sunday, whether she thought gay marriage should be made legal nationwide, and why. Hilton was obviously seeking to put Miss California on the spot for her state’s November vote for Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution making gay marriage illegal. Hilton used the venue of the Miss USA pageant to sandbag the unsuspecting Prejean, who nevertheless courageously stated her belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman. The answer has launched a firestorm of controversy that has Miss California officials openly condemning Prejean for her beliefs, and hinting that she could lose her title because of them.

Read More →

Anyone familiar with the lineaments of the debate over same sex marriage will have encountered what we might call the Libertarian Variation. This is the view that all the commotion surrounding this dispute could be avoided if only we could persuade the state to have done with marriage altogether, leaving it a strictly private affair. Most commonly the it will be advanced with a kind of cry of exasperation: “I just want the government out of the marriage business!” The cry is less one of realistic hope for policy reform than a forlorn utterance of resignation.

Commonly Libertarian Variation will be advanced by someone with enough perception to realize that the standard compromise in favor of tolerance on all sides — gays can have their recognition, but don’t worry, no one will ever be forced to participate — is not now a realistic option, and probably never was. In short, the Libertarian Variation is commonly advanced by someone who realizes, deep down, that, indeed, churches will be forced to open their grounds to gays, that wedding photographers will be forced to accept business for marriages they have a principled opposition to. Coercion has happened, and will happen. Hence our poor libertarian’s exasperated cry of resignation.

Read More →