Correspondence
Correspondence THE GAY MARRIAGE WAR ; I AGREE WITH DAVID FRUM that the i decision of the Vermont supreme court ; regarding same-sex marriage is the open- : ing move in a national, largely judicial...
...While I am a staunch conservative, I resent court or government intrusion into my private life...
...But do they have First Amendment rights the rest of us don't have merely by virtue of their involvement in the media...
...The latter is okay with me, as long as the candidate promises not to vote on any legislation that impacts outside his state or district...
...If a heterosexual couple gets married in a civil ceremony, the legal partnership is assured...
...It's not for nothing that the networks and the Washington Post and the New York Times are rabid proponents of campaign finance reform...
...Why will the law no longer be able to recognize the special connection between mothers and children...
...And without the support of religious conviction about the unique, sacramental character of traditional marriage, the purely pragmatic and anthropological objections to same-sex marriage simply fail to stem the libertarian tide, as they probably should, since they are quite unpersuasive...
...I've had contact with a few couples of the same sex, and their commitment and devotion to each other could be a lesson to most "normal" married couples...
...Yes, the Vermont decision probably takes American jurisprudence a step closer to allowing gay marriage, but it is not at all clear to me why that is a problem...
...No one, therefore, should ; be in the least surprised that the Vermont justices should not find anything unique- j ly precious about traditional marriage, or deem it nothing more than just one of many "alternative lifestyles...
...Had the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act been in effect then, McCarthy says, there's no way he could have waged a campaign...
...And the example, cited in David Frum's hysterical editorial, of other states recognizing "next-of-kin" status would only become an issue had the deceased not made a will making his or her partner the beneficiary (which is, of course, entirely legal—unless you think that this too is wrong...
...Even more importantly, the lack of resources available to their challengers that results from the $1,000 contribution limit reduces both the quality and effectiveness of those challengers...
...The system is so rigged in favor of incumbents that it's absurd to suggest that $5,000 PAC contributions are going to make any congressman stand up and salute...
...Furthermore, such an amendment should also expressly allow Congress and the states to confer special privileges upon married couples that they shall not confer on same-sex or unmarried couples (namely, the current privileges of inheritance, joint ownership of property, child rearing, and various tax benefits...
...Besides, with a 98 percent reelection rate (as was the case in the House of Representatives in 1998), who needs to be corrupt...
...As McCarthy puts it, the Founders pledged their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor" to the Revolution...
...But I am far ; more pessimistic than he appears to be : about whether the conservative position ; has any chance of prevailing...
...I've reluctantly come to agree with j those cultural conservatives who have concluded that we have decisively lost America's culture wars, and that there is little, if anything, conservative politicians : can or will do to retrieve this situation...
...What I can't understand is why you are so concerned about homosexuality...
...This has been most : true within the legal profession, particularly among "elite" judges and lawyers who have the most influence...
...They play an important role in an open, vigorous democracy...
...That doesn't mean that the First Amendment doesn't apply...
...Maybe not, but it's an inevitable thing, given a $1.8 trillion federal budget...
...In fact, money is a proxy for information in campaigns, and any restrictions on it keep voters in the dark while enhancing the information gatekeeping power of the media...
...The editorial ends with a dramatic charge that by discarding the family we are discarding our humanity and citizenship...
...And lest anyone make the argument that gay partnerships break up frequently, has anyone checked the divorce rate recently...
...What's the difference between these two examples and any other kind of partnership...
...EDWARD H. CRANE President, Cato Institute Washington, DC...
...Therefore, gays should be able to wed...
...j Among the highly educated professional classes, resistance to any claims on behalf of "gay rights" is far more likely to elicit j scorn and indignation than is homosexuality itself...
...The real advantages incumbents have are found in all the free publicity, the name recognition, the franking privilege, and large staffs devoted to "constituent services"—the permanent campaign...
...How is same-sex marriage a threat to "the family...
...David Orgon Coolidge writes a more substantive article ("What the Vermont Court Has Wrought"), but it, too, begs the question: Why will toleration of homosexual unions mean the ruination of the family...
...The opposite would seem to be the case, since marriage means commitment to permanence...
...If I want to make my cat the beneficiary of my estate, I can do so...
...Take David Frum's editorial about the Vermont supreme court's decision that same-sex domestic unions must be accorded the same legal rights as married couples...
...Just who are these "corrupt" congressmen (other than the constantly self-flagellating McCain) whose abuse of the system requires us to give up our First Amendment rights...
...Yet, strangely, fingers are never pointed...
...Campaigns would then be of significantly less interest to lobbyists...
...MAURY HOLLAND Eugene, OR THE WEEKLY STANDARD is among my ; favorite magazines...
...Why does this amount to a "legal crisis of the American family...
...The proper way to get rid of the army of lobbyists in Washington is by ending corporate welfare, junking the IRS code in favor of a flat tax, and returning to constitutional first principles...
...Gene McCarthy shook things up in 1968 with the help of six-figure contributions from Stewart Mott and other wealthy liberal opponents of the Vietnam war...
...Bold leadership is needed before the cause of same-sex marriage gains further momentum...
...The impact of those strips on campaigns must be in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars...
...Novak equates money not with information, but with corruption...
...One would hope not...
...If the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act proves ineffective, as David Frum suggests, then the only sure way to prevent the scourge of same-sex marriage—or its "domestic partnership" equivalent— from sweeping the nation is by amending the Constitution...
...The few flimsy reasons Frum gives don't support the claim...
...Why does same-sex marriage lead to "a new system of temporary, fluctuating unions that elevate the wishes of adults over the welfare of children...
...it is astonishing how swiftly and completely the pro-gay rights position has swept the boards in this and other western nations, virtually demolishing such paltry and apologetic opposition as it has encountered...
...That the analogy of segregation doesn't work is still no reason why "heterosexual monogamy is the only form of sexual organization consistent with republican self-government...
...Pro-family conservatives inside and outside Congress should propose a constitutional amendment defining "marriage" as a legal union between one adult male and one adult female who are not close blood relatives...
...The thing that the political class fears most is a well-funded challenger...
...Correspondence THE GAY MARRIAGE WAR ; I AGREE WITH DAVID FRUM that the i decision of the Vermont supreme court ; regarding same-sex marriage is the open- : ing move in a national, largely judicial ; campaign to deprive the institution of : heterosexual marriage of its traditional, uniquely privileged social status ("The j End of Marriage...
...If I take on a partner of either gender in my business, the partnership benefits are likewise assured...
...Proposing such an amendment is the best way for pro-family conservatives to seize control of the social and cultural agenda from the gay rights lobby, their liberal supporters, and timid moderates in both parties...
...It appears in over 600 newspapers nationwide...
...Show how my gay neighbors are a threat to the integrity of my family, because I sure don't see it...
...Frum vastly underestimates the ability of lawyers to draw distinctions...
...That won't happen," Novak writes...
...when it comes j to foreign policy, PC mania, education, : art criticism, and general good sense, your magazine is first rate...
...The truth is that the "reformers" want elections to be the private preserve of the political class...
...KIM DU TOIT Prospect Heights, IL THE GAY RIGHTS LOBBY lost the first legal battle for same-sex marriage in Hawaii, but has unfortunately won the second legal battle in Vermont...
...He warns that "this process is not a good thing...
...Being one ; myself, I would estimate that at least 75 : percent of American law professors approve unreservedly of the Vermont : decision, and regard opposition to it as nothing more than benighted bigotry...
...Novak may be right that not all Republicans wrapping themselves in the mantle of the First Amendment on this issue are sincere...
...APRIL SUSKY Homer, AK THE REASON the major presidential candidates have been silent on the issue of gay marriage after the Vermont decision is that it's a non-issue...
...But as the Supreme Court ruled in Buckley v. Valeo, "the concept that government may restrict the speech of some elements of our society in order to enhance the relative voices of others is wholly foreign to the First Amendment...
...In fact, corruption is the raison d'être of campaign finance reform for groups ranging from Common Cause to the League of Women Voters...
...Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip frequently attacks George W. Bush and Steve Forbes...
...The same is true for Rush Limbaugh's radio show and, for that matter, Robert Novak's nationally ubiquitous commentary in print and on the air...
...Government has the clear responsibility to protect its citizens from assault in the forms of murder, theft, and molestation, but what takes place between consenting adults, repugnant though it may be to the straight majority, does not amount to a clear assault on the family or society...
...But the one real reform that would have the positive effect of reinvigorating our democracy with more competitive congressional races—eliminating the $1,000 individual contribution limit to federal candidates—is casually dismissed...
...They didn't say their "lives and fortunes up to $1,000...
...Really...
...He then argues for more likely "reforms" in the McCain-Feingold mold, namely, restrictions on PACs and soft-dollar contributions, and support for the curious notion that federal "candidates raise 70 percent or 80 percent of their campaign money in their own state or district...
...Its language should expressly prohibit Congress and the states from permitting or recognizing any marriage, or granting any status equivalent to marriage, where the couple in question does not meet the above definition...
...For the state to decide who should be my life partner is pernicious in the extreme, especially Correspondence when the rationale is based upon religious grounds...
...There is no reason at all why their partners should not be granted the same legal rights as any heterosexual partner in a normal marriage...
...Novak wrings his hands over the fact that "the lobbyists are intimately and inextricably involved in the campaign finance issue...
...Silence...
...Indeed, those who would shake up the status quo would benefit most by removing contribution limits...
...In a free society, there will always be some who have more influence on elections than others...
...JOSEPH F. SALZGEBER Brunswick, OH THE MONEY PIT ROBERT NOVAK IS CRITICAL of Republicans for "trying their best to block every proposal" for campaign finance reform ("The GOP and Campaign Finance," Jan...
...Jan...
...Most of the arguments involving same-sex marriage concern themselves with benefits...
Vol. 5 • January 2000 • No. 19
