Below please find a special message from one of our advertisers, National Organization for Marriage. From time to time, we receive opportunities we believe you as a valued customer may want to know about. Please note that the following message does not necessarily reflect the editorial positions of Human Events.
An Important Message from Rick Santorum September 22, 2008
Dear Friend of Marriage,
My friend, I've never come to you with a more urgent message: Unless we act today, we will lose the battle for marriage--not a decade from now, not "someday," but quite possibly in the next few months.
How? Just weeks ago, a handful of out-of-touch judges overturned the will of the people in California by repealing Proposition 22, which defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman and was overwhelmingly approved by the voters in 2000.
Four California judges endorsed two big, very bad ideas. First, they extended the internationally recognized human right to marry to include same-sex marriage. Not even in Massachusetts or in New Jersey could the courts stomach the idea that same-sex marriage is deeply rooted in our foundational American traditions of human rights.
The second big idea endorsed by the California court is even less promising: sexual orientation should be treated just like race under the California equal protection amendment, subject to "strict scrutiny." This is a ruling which, if left undisturbed, means that Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims who see marriage as the union of husband and wife, and view sexual activity as best confined to marriage so defined, are in the exact position as racists under California law.
Hollywood, academia and some in the medical profession launched a huge offensive over the past decade to change the attitude of Americans about the homosexual community.
They have succeeded in shaping the minds of young people against traditional marriage and intimidating and punishing anyone who offers a defense of marriage. A sophisticated network of wealthy gay activists are now trying to exploit this change in attitudes by spending millions on stealth campaigns to defeat pro-family state legislators and pass gay marriage laws.
They are pushing the battle first where the secular left is the strongest: deep in "blue states" including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maryland and now even in my home commonwealth, Pennsylvania.
If we don't fight back, our children and grandchildren will get harmful and confusing messages about marriage, including this one: there's no difference between same-sex and opposite-sex unions and anyone who defends marriage is a bigot.
Make no mistake, gay marriage is not about letting Adam visit Steve in the hospital or letting them do what they want in private. Gay marriage is about using the power of government to propagate a new faith: Individuals who oppose gay marriage are hateful bigots and they and their faith community should be punished.
Why are they pushing so hard to push gay marriage laws through state legislatures?
Because, they want to drive a nail into the coffin of any possibility of a federal marriage amendment.
Because, once it is "normalized" in this way, they are counting on the courts and the culture to then spread gay marriage throughout the country.
Because they know that once they get government committed to the idea that traditional marriage is bigotry, like racism, they can use the power of big government to marginalize, stigmatize and repress people of faith in American life.
And because they believe people of faith like you and me have no way to fight back.
Their strategy is simple: Use the big money power of high-tech billionaires to get politicians to ignore the values and voices of regular Americans.
That means, folks like you and me who:
Know marriage is the union of husband and wife;
Don't want their hard-earned tax dollars used to subsidize novel family forms, and;
Certainly do not wish their public schools to teach captive children that their parents and grandparents are evil discriminators for opposing gay marriage.
That's right, while we are tending to our jobs, going to church, and raising our families, a handful of wealthy gay men are plotting ways to use their giant fortunes to reshape the entire American political landscape in their own image.
Sound a little hard to believe? I thought so too, until I read the March 1, 2007 Atlantic Monthly article that documents the detailed plans and huge influence these men are having, led by one gay billionaire activist named Tim Gill.
The article is called "They Won't Know What Hit Them," and the subtitle pretty much says it all:
"Tim Gill has a mission: stop the Rick Santorums of tomorrow before they get started. How a network of gay political donors is stealthily ... reshaping American politics."
That grabbed my attention, how about yours?
These gay marriage activists know the marriage battle will be won or lost in state legislatures. And because they know that state legislatures are our farm team for the next generation of passionate pro-family leaders that's who the gay donors are targeting.
"t's often just a handful of people, two or three, who introduce the most outrageous legislation and force the rest of their colleagues to vote on it," says Gill. "If you could reach these few people or neutralize them by flipping the chamber to leaders who would block bad legislation, you'd have a dramatic effect."
Their goal? "[P]unish the wicked," as Gill puts it. Or, "snuff out rising politicians who were building their careers on antigay policies, before they . . . achieve national influence."
Their chief cautionary example of such a villain is . . . --Yes, there I am again!-- "Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania."
Let's be clear here: by "punish the wicked" Gill means people like you and me who adhere to God's vision of what marriage is and what it is for.
By "outrageous legislation" he means laws that protect marriage as the union of husband and wife, and incidentally also protect faith groups from persecution by the government for our views of marriage.
In the last election cycle Gill pumped $15 million into defeating the good guys. According to the Atlantic Monthly he succeeded seventy percent of the time.
"In 2000, he gave $300,000 in political donations, which grew to $800,000 in 2002, $5 million in 2004, and a staggering $15 million last year, almost all of it to state and local campaigns."
Danny Carroll, for example, used to be speaker pro tem of the Iowa House, a rising pro-family star who had guided a state marriage amendment to passage in the Iowa House (the first step to putting it on the ballot).
Then he was targeted by rich gay activists for his leadership on marriage.
Carroll never even knew why he lost, until the Atlantic Monthly reporter pointed out to him all the $1,000 out of state checks:
"I'll be darned," said Carroll. "Denver ... Dallas ... Los Angeles ... Malibu ... there's New York again ... San Francisco! I can't--I just cannot believe this," he said, finally. "Who is this guy again?"
And remember: it doesn't stop with gay marriage.
When the gay marriage money comes in and "flips" a state legislature, they flip it on ALL the values issues that concern families like ours; Abortion, religion in the public square, abstinence education--not to mention a whole lot of tax and spending issues too.
In Pennsylvania, Gill money helped the Democrats gain control of the House by only one vote.
What happens if we permit this tiny minority to reshape marriage? The next step is to use the new law to suppress the liberties of Christians.
Already:
A Christian adoption agency--Catholic Charities!--has been shut down by the government because it will not do adoptions for gay married couples.
A volunteer fireman, who risked his life to rescue friends and neighbors in need, was told his services were no longer wanted--because he signed a petition supporting marriage as the union of husband and wife.
A father was arrested for trying to prevent a public school from teaching his son that gay marriage is normal.
In New Jersey, a Methodist organization just lost part of its state tax exemption because it refused to permit civil union ceremonies on church-owned property.
How can this happen in the United States of America?
One thing I've learned to trust after 15 years on the front lines: When things look the darkest, God raises up new reasons to hope.
For those of us who are Christians, despair is a vice, and for us hope is not only a natural emotion, it's a theological virtue.
We are each called to "faith, hope and love." It is the fuel for our battles with the forces of hate who seek (in the name of tolerance!) to silence God's own truth.
And so with great hope and excitement....And so with great hope and excitement, I learned about the launch of The National Organization for Marriage's 2008 State Action Plan
This is the start of something really big and new--and not only on the marriage issue. It's a whole new model for getting politicians to do the right thing on traditional values.
I know politicians--believe me!--and nothing gets their attention like the possibility of a competent, well-funded campaign to let voters know how they really vote! Listen to Maggie Gallagher, NOM's new president, talk about the real disconnect between the polls--which show 60 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage--and the politicians:
"Politicians think they can get away with ignoring what voters think on marriage. Unless that changes, gay marriage activists are going to push blue state legislators to pass gay marriage, whether the people in their state want it or not."
So she and some other folks have pulled together a brilliant team to head up NOM's 2008 State Action Plan to take on the coming marriage and religious liberty battles in the states where it will be fought.
Think about the success of the gay marriage movement: If 2 percent of the population funded by a handful of rich men can work a revolution in culture, what could 60 percent of the population--or the most committed quarter--do with the right tools and strategy?
We can take Gill's strategy and flip it against him: use it to protect marriage by creating the real possibility of political risk--that politicians SHOULD feel when they vote against their own constituents' voices and values.
The National Organization's mission is to "protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it." The team they've brought together to accomplish this mission is extraordinary. Princeton Professor Robert George, Chairman of the Board, is a national treasure, a consistent and powerful intellectual defender of life, marriage and the natural law. Maggie Gallagher, NOM's president, is one of the most powerful, consistent voices for marriage in the country.
I got to know Maggie well during the battles over the Federal Marriage Amendment; Maggie helped me equip senators to speak on marriage. You may know her from her syndicated column that appears in the New York Post and many Pennsylvania papers as well.
Brian Brown, the dynamic young executive director (the father of five kids under the age of eight!) spent five years reviving and running the successful Family Institute of Connecticut, so he knows what it is like to fight for marriage deep in blue-state territory.
But don't take my word for it alone: Dr. James Dobson personally donated $25,000 to the National Organization for Marriage. Why?, "It's not just marriage that is at stake, it's absolutely everything," Dr. Dobson said on a recent Focus on the Family broadcast in which he invited Maggie Gallagher and Prof. George to speak about the National Organization for Marriage.
On the October 10 Focus on the Family radio broadcast, Dr. James C. Dobson urged pro-family Americans to do something about it.
"This has been an ongoing struggle that burns in our hearts," Dr. Dobson says. "And now, marriage is really on the brink, and I don't know how to emphasize that more."
Let's get the good fight going!
Gay marriage activists have to depend on a handful of very wealthy men, because they cannot count on the broad support of the American people. They know politicians who listen to your views and values will vote for marriage as the union of husband and wife.
Together, with God's help, there is no limit on what we can accomplish.
*from HumanEventsonline
Topic: Overturning the Will of the People Calif. (Read 818 times)