The Coffee Grounds Colonial Correspondent writes from Cleveland, Ohio

Tuesday 02 November, 2004

#The Coffee Grounds Colonial Correspondent writes from Cleveland, Ohio

I recently learnt that a colleague of my wife's didn't like George Bush. She didn't believe in the war in Iraq and she was unhappy with the President's domestic policies. She thought Sen. John Kerry was a better man and had better policies. So who is she going to vote for... George Bush. Why? Because George will seek a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The real irony is that this is a black woman.

The tragedy is that John Kerry doesn't support gay marriage, but this ladies preacher has her convinced that anything short of a constitutional ban will result in gay marriage being legalised and that her church will be forced to perform gay marriages or be destroyed. It isn't true. Nobody can force a preacher to marry them, gay or straight.

This is the land in which I live. Where Karl Rove plays the fundamental Christian right like saloon bar piano.

The truth is, that if George is re-elected, the issue of gay marriage will disappear... until the next election.

God bless America

And God help the rest of us.

stu [w] said Perhaps in the next US election, voting will be determined by how your brain lights up a scan when you view photos of the different candidates. That'll sort out the situation you describe above.

Brain scanners can probe your politics

Scientists are using brain-scan technology to study what makes a Republican's mind different from a Democrat's. [added 3rd Nov 2004]

John H [e] said The single issue, "Moral Values" voters carry the day. [added 4th Nov 2004]

prashton said If the population is really large and diverse (as it is in the US) single issue politics tend to be reduced in significance. When one side of an issue becomes motivated (say for stem cell research) it doesn't take long for the other side to organize against it. That seems to me to be quite healthy in a democracy. The alternative is to suggest that because I don't like an issue, no-one else should and therefore we won't discuss it and it will go away. Life doesn't work like that, fortunately. [added 4th Nov 2004]

John H [e] said Moral issues were sited by 22% of the electorate as their reason for voting for a particular candidate, hardly a minority, infact the single most important reason beating the economy, the war in Iraq and homeland security.

Further "Moral Issues" is pretty much code for opposition to Gay rights and abortion. These are such dividing issues that the lines (for and against) were drawn very quickly with little room for discussion and reason.

My point is a country, especially one as large, diverse and globally significant as the US, should have it's leaders selected by a population that has considered all of the issues. That didn't happen. In truth it rarely ever does but that's the price you pay for a democracy. [added 4th Nov 2004]

Fritz [e] said One piece of news I heard today was never mentioned in the runup to the election. The editor of the Wall Street journal said that the Bush administration had taken out loans with foreign banks namely China to finance their massive deficit. What happens when someday the US wants to get up on it's high horse and lecture the Chinese and they turn around and say where's my $$ Bro? [added 7th Nov 2004]

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