A Marathon of Idiots

What it takes to run a 2012 GOP presidential campaign

Every election year there are a few very disconcerting candidates who run for president. 2012 seems to be a special year though, bringing out candidates whose views span right of center to the far ends of the right-wing political spectrum. But the one thing they have in common is their connection with reality, or lack thereof.

THE FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT

Yesterday, Rick Perry brazenly attacked Obama’s decision to require US agencies working internationally to promote equal rights for gays as a "war on traditional American values." Perry is further quoted saying, “This is just the most recent example of an administration at war with people of faith in this country. Investing tax dollars promoting a lifestyle many [Americans] of faith find so deeply objectionable is wrong. President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles.”

In reality, between 2010 and 2011, more than half of Americans expressed support for legalizing same-sex marriage, with increases not only among Democrats and liberals, but also among Republicans, conservatives (if only a small increase) and those aged 55 or older, according to a Gallup poll in May of this year. In November, over 70 major companies, including Google, Microsoft and Xerox, filed a brief in court in support of repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), complaining that it forces them to discriminate within their companies.

Michelle Bachman recently got the wind knocked out of her by an 8-year-old at a book signing in South Carolina. "My mommy -- Miss Bachmann, my mommy's gay but she doesn't need fixing," said 8-year-old Elijah. Even elementary school kids know that her husband’s “reparative therapy,” also referred to as the “pray the gay away” theory, is a load of crap. And little Elijah is a perfect example of how the conservative view on same-sex parenting is wrong.

While Bachman gets the award for most awkward goof, Rick Santorum got a more, shall we say, viral award back in 2003. Due to his fire-breathing rhetoric on gay rights, sex columnist and gay-rights activist Dan Savage asked his readership to associate “santorum” with a subsequently offensive sexually based definition. Savage then created a website promoting the definition, which remains the first search result for Rick Santorum’s name on several search engines.

All three have said at different times that gay rights are not civil rights. But given the fact that civil rights refers to the rights of every human being, they are all, once again, wrong. Civil rights consist of a vast range of universal rights: the abolition of slavery, voting rights for women and the destruction of anti-black voting laws, the downfall of lawful segregation, legalizing interracial marriage and many others. So why should gays and lesbians not be given the rights of everyone else now that we have successfully given all genders and ethnicities equal rights.

It seems that to be part of the GOP one must reject today’s society as reality and instead become a believer of the dogma that is handed down to you by the GOP. Fox News will become your staple news source. Legalizing same-sex marriage will destroy our country from the ground up and will mistakenly teach our children that being different is acceptable. Climate change is a myth and the wealthy are still not wealthy enough. And “no” is always an appropriate answer.

“I REJECT YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN”

Perry, Bachman and Santorum hold the strongest connection between religion and society. They all denounce Obama and Democrats in Congress as waging a war against “traditional” and “family” values among the population. But what they fail to do is to take into consideration the facts about what this country is supposed to stand for: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The writers of the Constitution explicitly noted in the First Amendment that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof,” therefore separating government from involving itself in religious affairs.

While the definition of these words spans dozens of interpretations, Thomas Jefferson further clarified the separation of religion and government in a letter to the Danbury Baptists stating the first amendment creates “a wall of separation between the church and State.” This separation has allowed the country to become the religious melting pot that it is, guaranteeing everyone the freedom to express his or her own religion.

America prides itself as “the land of the free,” where anyone can come and earn a living and enjoy more freedoms than any other country in the world. In reality, we are not as free as we so proudly tout ourselves to be, because not everyone has the same rights. And the lack of these rights restricts everyday people from living a life of liberty and happiness.