Dear Governor Schwarzenegger –
It’s Elephant in the Room week. Today I would like to talk about how the Republican Party’s broke with its historic support of freedom in order to restrict the freedom to marry.
On last night’s Brothers and Sisters, “Robert McCallister,” Rob Lowe’s character who is running for President as a Republican, was under fire because his fiancée isn’t as far right as some Republicans would like. He responded by reminding us that Lincoln freed the slaves, Teddy Roosevelt established national parks, and Eisenhower desegregated schools – Republicans all.
So it was ironic that in 2004, George Bush chose the Roosevelt Room to call for a Constitutional Amendment blocking access to marriage. In his speech, President Bush argued that the marriages underway at the time in Massachusetts, San Francisco and New Mexico were “defiance of the law by local officials,” while the Defense of Marriage laws in 38 states represented the political consensus of the nation.
And so the spiritual leader of the Republican party made it clear that politics was more important than liberty, votes more important than equality, and political consensus more important than individual choice. What a change from the Republican party of the past!
Thank God that Congress had the wisdom to realize that these marriages by the people represented the true consensus of the people, and stopped the Defense of Marriage amendment.
I wish you, Governor, had the wisdom to realize that your veto of AB 43 was not only a disservice to families like mine, but also an insult to the tradition of the Party of Lincoln. Please consider supporting the freedom to marry in the future. The Elephant in the room demands it.
Yours,