Alan Keyes has accepted the Republican nomination for Senate in Illinois, setting up his third Senate run. Keyes is, by the way, Catholic. I’ve seen him speak twice and he is anything but a conventional Republican. For one thing, he didn’t support the war in iraq. However, he is a fiery speaker and passionate on moral issues.
Meanwhile, his opponent is the Democrat celebrity, Barak Obama. While Keyes is talking about freedom, slavery, abortion, and the Declaration of Independence, Obama dismisses such talk.
“As I travel around this state, I don’t get asked about gay marriage, I don’t get asked about abortion,” Obama said. “I get asked, ‘How can I find a job that allows me to support my family.’ I get asked, ‘How can I pay those medical bills without going into bankruptcy.’”
Really, nobody cares about gay marriage? That’s why, I suppose, 71 percent of Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment to protect marriage from such immoral unions. Gay marriage and abortion remain the most contentious political issues of our time, not because people don’t care about it. People care immensely about the issues, but because of the prevailing attitudes of most politicians, they don’t think anything can be done about it, so they look to other issues. But every time they’re polled, the American people express their opposition to both abortion and gay marriage. If only the political gatekeepers would allow that expression of the people’s will to become law.
Regarding the Obama quote:
I get asked, ial spending or looser money or more import restrictions or more tax cuts or job training programs or whatever could be a good idea. But the *primary* factor in whether *I* can find a job that allows *me* to support *my* family is my own efforts and actions (mixed with luck and circumstance, of course)—not something a politician can have much effect on, absent a degree of government control worthy of Mao.
In contrast, abortion and gay marriage (and this is true whatever one’s opinion of the issues themselves is) are inherently and by their nature public policies, and that is why asking politicians about them is appropriate. Politicians are far freer to do as they will with respect to these matters than they are to getting (any particular) me a job or health insurance.
I like Keyes. But when I used to watch the show he had on MSNBC(short lived ;-(), he seemed to have an almost Evangelical(read Pat Robertson) zeal for Israel. He came across as an “Israel can do no wrong” type. I dunno, maybe it was just me, but I wished he was more balanced on this issue. But I would vote for him in second if I lived in Illinois.
Just to clarify Dom, I think when Obama was “travelling around this state” I think he was referring to Illinois. If he had been travelling Missouri, he may have gotten a chance to talk to the 71% that voted against gay marriage.
Victor, I really couldn’t disagree more. Politicians are measured by job creation in the areas they oversee. The first line of offense/defense in any politicians campaign is job creation or loss. Some people may never know a woman who’s had an abortion but everyone will have personal experience with job loss and insurance. Job creation is going to be a tough one on Bush this election.
While I wouldn’t vote for Obama, he is certainly doing more than his share in getting people excited about politics. While he is taking the wrong stance on abortion, he does seem to have some good ideas about a great many other things. I’ll be curious to watch his career and what he does.
Jaime, I know he was talking about Illinois. My point is that a lot more people all over the country care about gay marriage than politicians give credit for.
And that people look to politicians for job creation isn’t the point. It’s whether they should and whether politicians should encourage them to look to government to create their jobs.
Dom, political races are won and lost based on the wallet, not the philosophy of morality and Right Order.
It’s going to be particularly true in the Upper Midwest this year. Keyes should talk about the economics; Catholic social teaching is clear, and not inconsistent with proposals to stiffen tariffs and duties, and to require, absolutely, that trading partners MUST respect human rights (think PRChina…) or we simply close the door.
Of course, that doesn’t comport with the Party Line, exactly. But who cares?
Saw Keyes at the Worcester Diocese Men’s Conference: Watch out! He is Catholic and really believes all that pro-life stuff.
Keyes’ point in the conference: Funny how we care about Saddam gassing the Kurds when we allow millions American children to be murdered in the womb.
Kudos for Keyes for being pro-Israel. He must be like me, I support Israel even before I know what that position is.
Obama is running scared on the debate issue because he knows Keyes will destroy him. Watch the commie media squirm when he calls abortion for what it is: murder.
Tom,
I saw him there too. We must have been at the same place. Keyes is no GOP flack either. He opposed the president on the war.