Legislating Hate
TomPaine.com Paul Waldman
May 31, 2006
Paul Waldman is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America and the author of the new book, Being Right is Not Enough: What Progressives Can Learn From Conservative Success , just released by John Wiley & Sons. The views expressed here are his own.
Election Day 2006 is just over five months away and time is running out for the Republican Congress to pack in a few more accomplishments before heading back to their districts for the final campaign push. So it’s useful to note what have they put on the docket as the last flurry of legislation to show the voters what they’re all about and why they should be returned to office. There are the competing immigration bills which have gotten so much attention recently. Then there’s the amendment to the Senate bill making English the “national language” (we can all rest easy knowing the creeping tyranny of Esperanto has been arrested). Beyond that, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has made clear he will bring two constitutional amendments to the floor in the coming weeks, one to ban gay marriage and the other to ban flag burning. Though the flags in your neighborhood may have yet to be set aflame by roving bands of anarchists, Frist assures you that—although it sounds like the most cynical of ploys—he’s actually just doing what the public demands. “It may not be important here in Washington where people say, well, it’s political posturing and all,” said Frist, “but it’s important to the heart and soul of the American people.”
As for another go-round on gay marriage, if gay Americans are looking for a silver lining to being scapegoated again, they can at least find company with their Spanish-speaking neighbors.
What do the flag-burning amendment, the gay marriage amendment, the immigration issue and the national language amendment have in common? It’s not just that they seek to solve “problems” that a month or two ago no one felt required urgent attention. The real common denominator is the lowest one: hatred. If you’ve got hatred in your heart, the GOP has a piece of legislation for you. [more]