The “Same Sex Marriage” Thing

Congress is well on their way of spending their precious time left with Democrats in charge chasing after issues that really aren’t being on any list of what Americans care about. They aren’t doing anything special to deal with inflation. They aren’t doing anything to spur the economy that’s headed for recession next year. They haven’t solved the out of control crime problem, and they aren’t tackling immigration reform and shutting down the southern border from illegals.

No. They’ve decided to “codify same sex marriage”.

And it’s probably one of the worst decisions this congress has made. Here’s why. First of all, even though the Supreme Court has come out in favor of same sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2014. That opened the door for every state in the union to go ahead and accept the marriage of gay couples.

I’m not here to debate whether the SCOTUS decision was right or wrong. It was. That’s history. And as much as liberals try to rewrite it, once it happens it happens. I doubt seriously that this Supreme Court, as conservative as they appear to be, is going to change that after a scant eight years.

Here’s why it’s a waste of congress’ time. According to Gallup, there have been 491,000 same sex marriages since the high court okayed it. That’s up from 368,000 last year. Gallup has also come out and said that 3.9% of the population is gay. So, we’re not talking about a huge number here. That’s roughly the same number of people that have come to the United States from Austria or Belgium. So, first of all, we’re not talking a lot of folks.

Second, the Supreme Court has already come out and made their decision. It’s not like abortion where you can turn off the spigot and say, “No more abortions”. You can’t “unmarry” someone by fiat. Once you’re married, unless you get a divorce or one of the participants dies, you’re married. And you can’t call this a “states’ rights” issue, because Maryland can’t say that you’re married, but Wisconsin say that you’re not. There’s no way that works out. So, this is something that HAS to be a federal issue. The genie is out of the bottle on this one, and you can’t close the door on it now.

So, why is congress deciding to waste time talking about “codifying same sex marriage” when there are so many other important issues that they could try and solve? Because it’s low hanging fruit. They know there are members of the Republican party that will go along with it (it got advanced in the Senate by a 62-37 vote with 12 Republicans joining all of the Democrats). It will face the same deal in the House. Whether you believe same sex marriage is right or wrong doesn’t matter any more because it just plain IS. That’s the story here.

I would much prefer that maybe congress tackle something that effected more Americans, dealt with one of the problems that we as a nation feel is more important, and didn’t waste time piddling around with things that don’t need their attention. No one is coming after the gays today. And no one is going to come after the gays tomorrow. But, what do you say, Congress? Let’s try doing something and shutting off the southern border. People who live in Yuma, Arizona are having illegals just walk into their house and take food out of their refrigerators, WHILE THEY ARE HOME! If it happened here in my house, there would be some illegal corpses to clean up. And Arizona law protects you if you shoot an intruder in your home (there are exceptions).

Codifying same sex marriage is something you do when you have tackled all of the really tough problems. Democrats are pandering once again and don’t want to go out of power with anything controversial that they can’t win. THAT is the reason we’re getting this now.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

But Is It Too Little Too Late?

Democrats are scurrying. Not the rank and file Dems that are your neighbors. I’m talking about the do-nothing Democrats (when they do something, it’s usually the wrong thing!) in Congress. Realizing they are less than two months away from midterm elections that still don’t bode well for their party, Democrats in the House and Senate are trying desperately to do SOMETHING before November 8th.

But it ain’t gonna be easy.

See, in order to get Joe Manchin on his side for the big trillion dollar budget busting spending bill Congress passed (I think they called it “Inflation Reduction”?) Chuckles Schumer had to agree to a side deal. That was that the fossil fuel industry was going to get some sweetheart deals going forward. Of course, that is included as part of the federal budget bill that has yet to pass Congress. But that throws a wrinkle into the whole process because people like Lizzy Warren and Bernie Sanders are totally against the deal. Worse yet, there are 70 Democrats in the House that say they won’t vote for the budget if Manchin’s deal is included. They don’t have a 70 vote margin! It won’t even pass the House!

So, what happens if Manchin gets screwed and the federal budget doesn’t pass because they don’t have 50 Democrats to vote for it (without Sanders and Warren)? Does Manchin get fed up and join the Republicans (which would give them a majority and totally throw the last month into chaos)? It would be interesting.

But Democrats can’t afford to be blamed for a government shutdown at the end of this month. That would put the brakes on any “wins” they think they’ve had this past summer.

That is the most pressing issue Dems face leading up to the midterms, but they want more. They want a “Defense of Marriage” act that basically codifies what has already been passed as a federal law. Interestingly enough, Congress is worried because of the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling by the Supreme Court that ended the federal law with abortion rights. The reasoning here is that it’s a states-rights issue and that states can decide whether or not same sex marriage is legal in their state. But the difference is huge. One is a procedure. The other is a “binding contract” between two parties. I don’t know how you could be recognized in California as a married couple, but not in Ohio (which is the case). A lot of states don’t recognize same sex marriage today, some even have it in their state’s constitution that it’s banned!

The House is still considering a “robust public safety package”. It’s basically a walk-back of the Democrats’ “defund the police” movement. It was supposed to go for a vote in July, but Nancy Pelosi didn’t have the votes (and still doesn’t).

Then there is the ubiquitous assault weapons ban that keeps rearing it’s ugly head. Doubtful that will even come up before the midterms.

Dems are hoping that they can do something besides pass a federal budget bill before the midterms. However that could very well be too little too late. Most people seem to already have made up their minds. Only the independents are making up theirs now, and that’s what causing the races around the country to be tightening. The big question is, will it be enough?

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!