Taking the Offensive in the Culture War

With his declaration of support for a Constitutional Amendment banning Same Sex marriage, President Bush is doing in the culture war what he’s done in the war on terror: going on the offensive.

This is a huge departure for conservatives who have been on defense for 40 years. The usual conservative strategy has been wait for the Supreme Court to issue an outrageous ruling, propose Quixotic legislation that they’ll be unable to get pass Democrats who have discovered a new clause in the Constitution.

Some want to remain on defense as using the Constitution to protect something like marriage seems unnecessary and wrong. The Constitution, they argue, was never meant to be anyone’s ideological playground, but a basic governing document that left the most important decisions to the states.

I would welcome opponents of the Federal Marriage Amendment such as Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) to the twenty-first century where the Constitution ain’t what it used to be. You see judges make up the Constitution as they go along to fit their own ideology.

Logically, the Defense of Marriage Act itself should be unnecessary. The use of the full faith, and credit provision of the Constitution to justify forcing same sex marriage on states that ban the practice is not legally sensible. Consider the case of someone who goes from one state to another, having a concealed weapons permit in the first state to one that forbids carrying a concealed weapon. In most cases, that permit will be considered invalid in the new home state. Similarly, a 15 year old with a Driver’s License moving from his home state to one that you be at least 16 to get a driver’s license can lose their driving privilege for a year.

However, this logic won’t stop the judicial tyranny. Either, they’ll ignore these other licenses or appeal to the 14th Amendment, the courts’ favorite weapon against objecting communities and States.

President Bush has said, “Enough!” Our most sacred institutions should not be subject to the relentless assault of determined judicial activists, who have seen fit to reshape society in their own image. Marriage is between a man and a woman. Period. End of sentence.

By doing so, he is spearheading a Conservative offensive against an impeding leftist move. He has decided not to allow Democrats the opportunity to destroy the definition of marriage. He has in essence, take his pre-emptive foreign policy that was so effective in Iraq and applied it to the domestic realm.

Of course, many on the right are squeamish, and the cultural left is angered at such a brazen case of a Republican finally making a bold move. They’ll try to use their political and media machine to stop Bush and defeat the Republicans for daring to challenge them. The upcoming political battle will be long, hard, and difficult. The left is ready for a fight and our response should be simple and direct: bring it on!

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