Posted on 03/30/2015 7:21:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Late last summer, with midterms consuming the attention of the political class, a group of GOP activists spent two days in Des Moines trying to convince their fellow Republicans that change was coming to their party. With eyes on 2016, they attended the Iowa State Fair, talked with newspaper editorial boards, and even ventured onto conservative talk radio. To cap it off, on the last evening, supporters gathered at 801 Chophouse, the upscale watering hole of the city's political elite, as if to announce their movement had gone mainstream. That it couldn't be dismissed as fringe any longer.
Their issue, in a state where evangelical Christians remain the heart of the GOP base, was support for same-sex marriage.
The reception was smaller than expected—just about 50 people came—and included a lineup of supporters already deeply involved in the GOP's gay-marriage movement. Yet while it would have to be described as underwhelming, the event nonetheless signaled movement. "Here you have a conservative reception for activists to come in and talk marriage equality in a central hub of political activity," says Jeff Angelo, a former state senator who is now chairman of Iowa Republicans for Freedom, a pro-gay-marriage group. "That's not usual."
Indeed, it's not. Less than 10 years ago, the last Republican who would go on to win the presidency traveled conservative America touting a series of "one man, one woman" state constitutional amendments. But the task that day in Iowa wasn't to show Republicans how much has changed in a decade or to nudge them toward acceptance of those unions. It was to force them to concede that going neutral on gay marriage is critical to winning the White House.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
Follow the money.
Of course they are, because the MEDIA is the real power in this nation. They have made Homosexuality socially acceptable by their constant portrayal of non-disgusting behavior from people claiming to be homosexuals on all the social entertainment media.
The media (New York and Los Angeles Urban Liberals) steer the public mind with their inaccurate propaganda, and the consequences eventually steer the parties positions.
Politics is downstream from Culture, and the Urban Liberals working in the News and Entertainment industries are steering the culture.
If these Republicans succeed (and I wouldn’t be surprised if changing the platform gets high level support from Washington Republicans, as well as well-healed donors), it will cost them millions of votes in 2016.
Amazing to me that Washington Republicans fail to learn the same lesson, though it is presented to them time and again, at nearly every election cycle. When conservatives are energized (ala 2004 and 2014) Republicans win. When conservatives don’t like the candidates or the message (ala 2008, 2012) Republicans lose. The formula is fairly simple. Yet Republicans don’t get it.
This issue is a moot point.
The Supreme Court is going to force 50 state homosexual marriage on us this year. The issue will have been decided nationwide.
Not that I agree with how the liberals forced this through the courts. But they did, and there will be no battle left to have over homosexual marriage.
Ted Cruz has said that each state should decide. But the Supreme Court is going to override the ability of states to define marriage. So where do we go from here, if we want to keep battling on this issue?
I know that it annoys some, even here on this site, but there are millions of us who are actively engaged in politics primarily—many entirely—because of the social issues. If the Republican Party abandons us, well...guess what.
Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften war stance...by softening its edge on some volatile social issues and altering its image as the party always seemingly "eager to go to war... We do need to expand the party and grow the party and that does mean that we don't always all agree on every issue" ... the party needs to become more welcoming to individuals who disagree with basic Republican doctrine on emotional social issues such as gay marriage... "We're going to have to be a little hands off on some of these issues ... and get people into the party," Paul said.[Posted on 01/31/2013 5:08:50 PM PST by xzins]
Can someone tell me what the difference is between the Democrat and Republican parties? On spending and entitlements, and now on social issues, there is none.
Isn’t that where Article 5 of the Constitution comes in for states?
But we have to keep voting for Republicans because?
Moronic to address it in that manner. You alienate people who want to “feel good” about “supporting Equality”. The REAL solution is to simply get government out of the business of treating married and single people differently. Same taxes, same insurance regs, etc etc. Then every issue on “Gay Marriage” goes away, without a single reference to sexual preference or faith.
There’s another issue as well.
Public opinion has really shifted on this issue.
When homosexual marriage first came on the scene, huge majorities opposed it. Democrat politicians, except for Gavin Newsom, did not want to touch this issue with a 10 foot pole.
Now, in recent years, polls show that the American people actually support homosexual marriage. A few states have passed laws allowing homosexual marriage. This would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, but it’s happening in the past few years. While this issue has mainly been forced through the courts, it’s also happened through the political process too.
And polls of young conservatives find barely a small majority still opposed to homosexual marriage. Polls of young people overall show that they are overwhelmingly in favor of homosexual marriage.
You could substitute "abortion" for "gay marriage" and make the same point. The only way to fight a court decision is with another court decision.
If we can keep battling after the Supreme Court imposes 50 state homosexual marriage, I’m all in. I support efforts in many states to chip away at abortion on demand. If we can do something similar with marriage, I would be all in. I just question whether the culture has moved on so much on this issue.
Nothing new about this. Republican non Christians have wanted social issues to go away for decades.
Only because they've been intimidated into SAYING they agree with it. There's no such thing as tolerance. It's another media lie.
The homo population is less than 2% and that's only if you count the prison inmates who don't have a choice. The homos and their far, far left supporters just make a lot of noise to make people believe there's more of them.
I don't know why the left wants homo. Maybe it's the population control freaks. Maybe it's the rich pedophiles of the world. Maybe it's just designed to tear down the moral fabric that keeps our country together. For some reason, they want the destruction of America from within very, very badly and their fear tactics are actually pulling it off - for now.
I can't help but believe there's an awaking happening though. People are starting to speak out more and more. That's a good thing, but it'll require a little more time to repair the damage that's been done.
I agree, they should, its a losing issue, actually, its lost already. Public attitudes have changed, why tilt at this windmill, its a loser now.
It doesnt matter whether its a losing issue, they need to be right.
They really like losing apparently, because moving to the left will make them lose.
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