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March 2004 |
Why we always lose
By Gary Bauer
CHRISTIAN EXAMINER- Opinion |
If I had to identify the one question I am asked most often by average people who care about family and faith, it would hands down be this: “Why do we always lose?”
It is the right question to ask. After 30 years of political activism on behalf of hearth and home we are still losing the battle over values and, unless we are prepared to start thinking “outside the box,” we will continue to lose. The events of the last couple of weeks are a perfect example of what is happening. It is a story that has been repeated time and time again.
In Massachusetts and California, five people (four Massachusetts judges and one California mayor) are well on their way to changing the definition of marriage in the United States. As repugnant as I find what they are doing, I am in awe of their boldness on behalf of a bad cause. I can’t help but compare it to the timidity of our own leaders on behalf of a noble cause—the preservation of marriage as the union of only one man and one woman.
The Massachusetts judges have essentially reversed the American Revolution in the very state in which it started. Substitute four robes for one crown and the effect is the same. They have ordered the elected representatives of the state to recognize same-sex “marriage”—regardless of what the people may or may not think.
In California we are in the middle of a cultural “twilight zone.” Did you know that the “marriage” licenses, which the out-of-control San Francisco city government is issuing to thousands of homosexual couples from all over the world had to be altered? Reportedly, the original forms had a space for the couples to sign labeled “husband” and “wife.” Whoops! What are “Bill” and “Tom” and “Mary” and “Sue” to do? So, the “marriage” forms were changed to read “applicant number one” and “applicant number two.” (Need I mention that our children need mothers and fathers—not applicant 1 and applicant 2?) It will only be a matter of time before San Francisco city officials have to add a line for “applicant number three” when the polygamists demand their rights, too!
This is a momentous time. The issue at stake is much bigger than whether President Bush was “AWOL” or whether Senator John Kerry once hung out with Jane Fonda. This is bigger than marginal tax rates or going to Mars. We will suffer, but we can survive bad economic policies. What we can’t survive is this constant attempt to strip our Judeo-Christian roots out of every nook and cranny of American life. What we won’t be able to overcome is the redefinition of America as a place of merely “do your own thing.”
What we can’t survive is political cowardice.
So, what is the reaction of our political leadership in this time of crisis? The Republican governor of California initially did nothing. Then, after being pummeled with demands to take action to stop the blatant violation of California law currently under way, he manages to flex his muscles and comes up with a statement “encouraging San Francisco officials to obey the law.”
Wow, what a terminator!
Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., a leading Republican senator tells me there is very little stomach on Capitol Hill to pass a constitutional amendment simply stating the obvious —that marriage is between a man and a woman. The president, in the middle of a tough re-election campaign, was asked Feb. 18—for the umpteenth time—what his reaction was to the most recent efforts to redefine marriage and, once again, he declined to endorse an amendment to the Constitution, but he did let the reporter know, “I am watching very carefully, but I am troubled by what I’ve seen.” With all due respect, the time to be “troubled” has long since past. The time for “watching” is over. What more do we need to see? Mr. President, we need your strong moral clarity now!
A front-page article in the Washington Times on Feb. 18 quotes “Republican homosexual rights advocates who speak often with administration officials” as saying that, “reasonable political minds at the White House have decided there’s no reason to say anything right now.”
Wrong! This silence is deafening. And this is why for 30 years we have been losing. Not because the polls are against us—they are not. Not because of media bias—there are plenty of conservative media alternatives. We are losing because the political leaders we have elected have consistently either run scared or have been unwilling to spend their political assets to defend our values in the war over our culture.
The result is that we live in a country where it is against the law for kids to see a copy of the Ten Commandments on school grounds. Later this summer there is a 50-50 chance the “supremes” will outlaw the Pledge of Allegiance because it includes the words “under God.” Prayer of any kind at football games or high school graduations is banned because someone might be offended, but taxpayer subsidized condoms or birth control pills are OK for your 13-year-old kids whether you like it or not. And after 30 years of effort, we remain a country operating under court order that destroys one million innocent babies a year and calls it merely “a choice.”
Let me bring this back to the issue that has set off my anger—the destruction of marriage. This battle can be won and should be won. But we will prevail only if those who will be avidly seeking our votes in a few months quit stalling and start vigorously defending our values. If they don’t, history will judge them accordingly. What do you think?
Gary Bauer, a former candidate for president of the United States, is founder and chairman of the Campaign For Working Families, a Washington, D.C.-based pro-family political action committee.
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