When I learned about socialism in junior high, I don’t remember this part. Apparently, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) believes that same-sex marriage is a part of “socialist” agenda aimed at undermining “the foundations of individual rights and liberties.”
As reported at thehill.com, King said the following on a conservative radio program:
If there’s a push for a socialist society where the foundations of individual rights and liberties are undermined and everybody is thrown together living collectively off one pot of resources earned by everyone, this is one of the goals they have to go to, same sex marriage, because it has to plow through marriage in order to get to their goal. They want public affirmation; they want access to public funds and resources.
For the moment, let’s set aside the idiocy of this statement. Behind the fear, anger, and misinformation of this position, we also see exposed the laziness of the Right’s new and unhinged rhetoric. Right now, the GOP just seems to be taking every strand of resentment and dissatisfaction in society – whether shrouded in populism, racism, or fundamentalism – and declaring socialism (or fascism in some instances). One can’t imagine the intellectual pillars of American conservatism (Irving Kristol, William F. Buckley, etc.) using terms like socialism or fascism without actually understanding what these words mean. But so what? Why trouble ourselves with nettlesome details like “what words actually mean,” or “historical facts?” This is the party of Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin.
Andrew Sullivan agrees – and then points out how anti-socialist marriage rights actually are:
Socialist? You realize that King must have no understanding of the word, or that the word has now become synonymous in Foxland with “anything that scares me.” How on earth is allowing 2 percent of people the right to marry the person they love a path to redistribution of wealth or government ownership of the means of production? Marriage is an institution that helps people be independent of the state. If one spouse gets sick, it is his or her spouse’s first responsibility to care for him or her. Without the spouse, the government would have to step in. Marriage encourages responsibility, long-term commitment, and leads to better health. All of that too helps people remain independent of the state. In fact every single argument that social conservatives make about marriage for straights – and rightly so – also applies to marriage for gays.
The mindset that lumps this in with some amorphous threat to everything good and American is not rational. It is gripped by paranoia, illogic and prejudice.
Par for the course on today’s Right. When the GOP is ready to engage in thinking again, there are people ready to rejoin.
-MN
other prominent democrats, Howard Dean, Charles Schumer, Jon Corzine and Christopher Dodd, who have also recently changed their position on the issue.
War veteran, will sponsor the Military Readiness Enhancement Act repealing the ban on gays in the U.S. military. The House Armed Services Committee is expected to hold hearings on the bill in the next few months. I applaud Representative Murphy’s leadership and political courage. The legislative battle will be difficult.
