You can practically hear the consultant and donor class begging GOP presidential contenders to pipe down about gay marriage. After all, the Supreme Court settled it and the people are against you. Economics is the issue.
So, the new Reuters/Ipsos poll should give them serious heartburn. A solid 62 percent of GOP respondents say the Supreme Court decision imposing same-sex marriage on the country was wrongly decided.
The poll also shows only 51 percent of respondents over all believe the decision was correctly decided. Thirty-five percent over all believe it was wrongly decided along with 14 percent who are unsure, which means, as many suspect, the much touted tsunami of support for gay marriage may nothing more than a mirage created by the LGBT movement and their allies in the media.
There seems to be no end to same-sex marriage supporters in the media who more in “sorrow” than in anger wish, for its own good, the Republican Party would throw in the towel on gay marriage.
New York Time’s house conservative and same-sex marriage supporter David Brooks gave some advice to his friends among culture-fighting social conservatives. “I am to the left of the people I have been describing on almost all of these social issues. But I hope they regard me as a friend and admirer. And from that vantage point, I would just ask them to consider a change in course.”
Brooks says religious conservatives should, “Put aside a culture war that has alienated large parts of three generations from any consideration of religion or belief. Put aside an effort that has been a communications disaster, reducing a rich, complex and beautiful faith into a public obsession with sex. Put aside a culture war that, at least over the near term, you are destined to lose.”
Brooks likely does not know that orthodox Christians would look upon the approval of the New York Times, even the approval of the house conservative, as something of a failure.
Will Saletan, no conservative either, writes in Slate that pro-marriage candidates including Scott Walker, who has called for a constitutional amendment, are leading the GOP in the wrong direction. He says the GOP can still “win” on gay marriage by doubling down on support for marriage, but only proclaim gay marriage is a part of that tradition.
Saletan writes, “Now that the fight for ‘marriage equality’ has been won, the next fight is about what that victory means. Are we welcoming same-sex couples, like different-race couples, to an enduring institution? Or are we rethinking the rules of marriage and its place in society? That’s a debate to which social conservatives should contribute. And it’s a fight the GOP can win.”
Saletan asserts the “younger, wiser generation of Republicans needs to step in. They must break the link between same-sex marriage and lifestyle liberalism.” Lifestyle liberalism, he defines as “divorce, single parenthood and promiscuity are real problems.”
The key to Saletan’s argument is the recognition by many Americans that homosexuality is not a choice and if it’s not a choice it cannot be a sin. The Christian Churches, however, do not view homosexuality as a sin. They teach, however, that homosexual behavior is and therefore are unlikely to exclude gay sex in Saletan’s pantheon of “lifestyle liberalism.”
What the left is keen to avoid is an animation of the social conservative base such as happened after Roe v. Wade, an animation that guaranteed abortion is a major part of our national debate even today.
And in the meantime, it appears that no GOP presidential hopeful thinks they can succeed without opposing gay marriage, criticizing Obergrefell, and genuflecting before traditional marriage.
Follow Austin Ruse on Twitter @austinruse