2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumGOP’s “religious liberty” scam just died: Why Brewer’s veto is so momentous
Once upon a time, the right thought it could push its agenda behind claim of religious freedom. Those days are overBRIAN BEUTLER
Back in 2012, a full two years before conservatives insisted that religious freedom entailed the right to discriminate against gay people or gay spouses in both private and public workplaces, Republicans in Washington trotted out the same religious liberty line for the arguably narrower purpose of defending religious employers who wanted to be exempt from the Affordable Care Acts contraception mandate.
That effort ultimately ran aground, both because the issue became the domain of the courts, but also because it ended up inviting a bunch of retrograde public pronouncements from conservatives about birth control and reproductive rights that ultimately dwarfed whatever political advantage Republicans hoped to gain by positioning themselves as tribunes for the religiously devout.
But for that ancillary damage, conservatives of all stripes really did seem to think that theyd gotten the framing right, and could apply it generously to future culture war battles.
The events of the past week have been especially fascinating in light of that history. The effort to apply the same religious freedom argument to anti-gay measures in states across the country has encountered tremendous resistance, not just from liberals but from business leaders, state-wide Republican elected officials, and GOP celebrities who, for different reasons, seem to get that stomping away from a growing majority of the population with a middle finger hoisted overhead isnt a smart thing to do.
more
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/27/gops_religious_liberty_scam_just_died_why_brewers_veto_is_so_momentous/
phantom power
(25,966 posts)Their bill got shot down, but it still allowed them to demonstrate to their bigot base that they hate all the right people. And that's important to them.
I'm still glad it crashed and burned. That's progress of a kind.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)It came sooner than I thought, but it came because the gay community took the rest of us on on our different levels of bias or ignorance. In my case it was one of our DU gay brothers who asked me why they should wait. Why not change the laws now. He was right and it opened my eyes.
Now the world is a different place because of the gay community. I'm very happy about that.
Gothmog
(145,424 posts)There is no way that these laws would be found to be constitutional. In effect, these laws make everyone a "state actor" in order to make the First Amendment applicable to all issues. That concept is simply not in accord with the US Constitution
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)And the more zealous they are, the more willing they are to burn down the church to save the faith
lillypaddle
(9,581 posts)that they are surprised that this bill failed. Silly me.
idendoit
(505 posts)..it would have been shot down in the courts.