CITY ON THE HILL

Listen to America (Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe, November 7th, 2004)

Every time the question of same-sex marriage is put before the public, the public emphatically says no. In 13 states this year -- in Missouri on Aug. 3, Louisiana on Sept. 18, and Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah, and Oregon on Nov. 2 -- voters were faced with proposed constitutional amendments limiting marriage to one man and one woman. In all 13 the amendments were approved, by majorities ranging from 57 percent (Oregon) to 86 percent (Mississippi).[...]

America is not divided on this issue. The national consensus on the meaning of marriage is strong and broad, uniting whites with blacks, the Bible Belt with the coasts, working class with the well-to-do. Same-sex marriage advocates went 0-for-13 this year not because they were thwarted by intolerant extremists but because they are demanding something wildly out of step with American values and history. Gay and lesbian activists should be able to acknowledge the legitimacy of the nation's deep opposition to homosexual marriages. And they should be able to respect the outcome of the democratic process, even if they don't like it.

In many cases, unfortunately, that isn't their response. Too often they demonize those who reject same-sex marriage as haters and homophobes. Ballot measures that are purely defensive -- efforts to protect the common understanding of marriage from high-handed judges -- they condemn as "writing bigotry into the constitution." And far from agreeing that this is a thorny issue that should be resolved democratically, they insist that what the people think shouldn't matter at all.

"Fundamental human rights should never be put up for a popular vote," says Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We'll win some states and we'll lose some states, but eventually the Supreme Court is going to look at the Bill of Rights and isn't going to give a damn what's in any of these state constitutions."

To an admiring outsider, the importance of both the election and the rise of the American conservative movement goes far beyond foreign policy or individual issues like guns and gays. Their principle significance is in bringing decades of efforts to disenfranchise ordinary citizens to a screaming halt. Throughout the West, old-fashioned conservatives feared the mob and used property and educational qualifications to limit the franchise. They dismissed and ignored popular opinion, for which they eventually paid by losing political power and, in some cases, their heads. Today’s left (and libertarians), spoiled by three generations of intellectual predominance, have fallen into the same trap by demonizing those who disagree with them and asserting that only their views are legitimate and worthy of respect. Their tool of choice is the judiciary, but their grip on academia, science and the MSM gives them plenty of other vehicles to justify their contempt for those who disagree with them.

Throwing around ever-expanding terms like “racism”, “homophobia”, “progress”, “rights” and “oppression” with all the forethought and subtlety of a longshoreman’s curses, they have convinced themselves they are in the vanguard of the march of history, and that trying to stop them is akin to a sin. Once these terms had a genuine significance in addressing and redressing injustices. Now, they are used primarily to trump democracy and cement the stranglehold on power enjoyed by the intellectual aristocracy.

The astounding reversal of this trend in the face of non-stop vitriol and slander from a united chattering class, directed in the most personal terms at both the President and all his supporters, is a seminal event in the history of democracy. Sadly, at this point it is only happening in America. In the rest of the Anglosphere--Britain, Canada, Australia, etc.--contempt for faith, a historical deference to elites, judicial activism and a very progressive media (spiced up with a little good ‘ole anti-Americanism), continue to close minds and leave many who might otherwise challenge the zeitgeist demoralized and in real fear of being ostracized, at least socially. Indeed, so great is the impulse to conform that many are confused as to what the heck they believe and how to articulate it. In Continental Europe, a patronizing disdain for the untutored opinions of the general public is so strong it is expressed openly with no apologies, as witnessed by dirigiste attitudes and statements from many leaders on the EU and its new constitution.

It is hard to believe the Democrats will make any progress in rebuilding until they face their open contempt for so many voters squarely, a process that almost guarantees years of bitter, internecine warfare. Pity. Of course, Republicans may soon face the dilemma of how to resist the temptation to use their executive, legislative and judicial powers to similarly sidestep the popular will.