Bill Bennett: Bush has a mandate for "cultural change"

[solarbird]

"Decent society" here means cultural conservatism.

Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and electoral votes to see to it. Now is the time to begin our long, national cultural renewal ("The Great Relearning," as novelist Tom Wolfe calls it) — no less in legislation than in federal court appointments. It is, after all, the main reason George W. Bush was reelected.

Comments

WANNA BET

[firni.livejournal.com]

Was he posting from Vegas?

Re: WANNA BET

[solarbird]

Funny, but honestly, they don't care. Keep saying the Right Things and you're always welcome back.

Re: WANNA BET

[firni.livejournal.com]

Yep! Gambling is a sin, but at least it's not done with a penis!

[banner.livejournal.com]

So let's make Domestic Partnership a moral issue, and that it is immoral to not allow it, to not grant the same rights and priviledges. Show that people in Domestic partnerships are more stable and behave in a moral manner. And counter the claims of hedonistic and immoral behaviour with the 'girls gone wild' tapes, to show that promiscuity and immoral behavior is a problem that knows no sexual alignment.

Maybe I'm unduly optimistic, but I think it's a fight that can be won. I just don't expect it to be won tomorrow. But in say 4 years? Yes.

[solarbird]

So let's make Domestic Partnership a moral issue, and that it is immoral to not allow it, to not grant the same rights and priviledges.

Man, you should have been there for the SHOWER OF ABUSE that poured out of the stands when I tried that at the King County Republican convention. I called the anti-DP/anti-marriage plank that was being adopted a "pro-promiscuity plank" because it was, but while that made an impression - seriously, a big one - it didn't help.

I really don't think you understand that the evangelical conservative considers it morally wrong for us to have the same rights and privileges. Period. Full-fucking-stop. I've had this discussion many times and have been read that riot act enough times to believe it. Equal treatment, from their standpoint, is explicitly the problem.

Faggotry is to be actively discouraged, if not outlawed. Not accommodated.

That's the majority opinion, anyway, and the opinion of all of the leadership that I've ever heard talk about it. That's why they call domestic partnership "counterfeit marriage" - to more effectively tie the two together.

Have you ever been in the trenches with the evangelicals on this issue? Do you have a seriously different experience than do I?

[banner.livejournal.com]

Dara I GREW UP with these people, I was RAISED by these people. I know these people fairly well. Yeah you'll probably never win over the Southern Baptists (but who cares), but you could win over enough of the rest to win this battle. The thing that all of these people have is an ingrained sense of fair play. You appeal to that sense, along with a little bit of good PR and salesmanship (happy domestic partnered/married gay males won't be out there recruiting! - never mind that gays don't recruit in the first place...).

I'm not saying it would be easy, or fast. I think it would take a long dedicated effort. But I believe very strongly that it would succeed in time.

[solarbird]

Okay. I've tried, a lot. I haven't gotten anywhere.

Serious question, not asked to be mean:

Are you out to your parents and family yet?

That's the single most effective thing you can do in that direction. It's the one thing that is most likely to work. In a lot of cases, it's the only thing that will reset the defenses and make them think about it.

The evangelical leadership has been spending a lot of time trying to coach defenses against it - including holding the line that the correct response to coming out is to shun utterly. But it's still the most effective single thing to do, I think. Family sometimes overcomes training.

If you're not, I think maybe it's time. If you mean it, well - it's a good place to start.

If you are, then congratulations and I hope it went well. ^_^

[elfs.livejournal.com]

The problem with this approach is perfectly encapsulated in an old post that was highlighted by morons.org: "Whenever you see a picture two men holding a child and look like a family, always keep in mind the truth: those men sodomize each other every night."

I wondered if the psycho who wrote that slavers over the image of every man and woman holding hands and imagines them in flagrente delecto, but the end result doesn't matter. The people who voted for Bush think domestic partnerships legitimize activity that revolts them.

We may have to wait a generation, or the Singularity, for things to change.

[banner.livejournal.com]

I disagree.

And wow I wish I got that much action in my partnership *laughs*

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

Show that people in Domestic partnerships are more stable and behave in a moral manner.

But if you start with the premise that homosexuality is inherently immoral, as many cultural conservatives do, then you'll never be in favor of any government sanction of gay partnerships, even if it does decrease promiscuity.

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

*scared for the world*

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

"Relearning" is disturbingly close to "re-education".