When The Wedge Dosen’t Work

The news that Dick Cheney, dark lord of the GOP even supports gay marriage, the signals are clear, the old wedge issues held so dear by the GOP operatives are no longer working. Yes abortion still rings a bell for some folks, but the recent murder of Dr. Tiller is a frightening example of just for whom that bell tolls.

No longer can the Republican Party rally its troops with these issues. Even conservatives have begun to understand that same-sex marriage is a basic right of citizenship and that abortion is not so black & white an issue. When states like Iowa make gay marriage legal, and conservative lawyers like Ted Olson (who argued for George Bush in the Bush vs. Gore case), are willing to team up with former opponents to take gay marriage to the Supreme Court, it’s a sign things are changing.

More to the point is the issue of health care. Years ago the GOP and health care insurers teamed up with the “Harry & Louise” ads. They successfully scared voters into resisting efforts to solve the national health care problem. Today, that tactic isn’t working as well.
Many Republicans as well as Democratic lawmakers are willing to take a long hard look at the broken health care system without fear of offending the base.

The playbook of the right-wing is getting pretty thin, and when they loose the tried and true wedge issues like gay marriage, health care and maybe even abortion, there won’t be many pages left.

That is a bad and a good thing. Good because they will have to argue issues based on facts rather than fear. Bad because they will look for other ways to push the panic button.

Terrorism is still a workable tactic. Should another terrorist attach take place on American soil, the GOP will exploit it as robustly as they did 9/11. It is unfortunate that the Democrats don’t remind people that terrorists have already attacked, just this week when Dr. Tiller was murdered in his church. That was an act carried out by a radical fundamentalist, driven by ideology and fueled by hate. The only reason the Democrats won’t call him a terrorist is his religion. For many Americans “Muslim = bad” and “Christian = good” no matter what despicable acts are carried out in their God’s name.

The other remaining wedge is racism. I know some think we live in a post-racial society, but just bring up “illegal immigrants” and the racist language starts flying. Look at how Judge Sonia Sotomayor is being portrayed by the right-wing talking heads. Now that we have an African-American President, brown is the new black.

If a few Democrats in congress would grow a pair and break these last two wedges by speaking the truth we might see a better America where all people really do get to live out their dreams and pursue happiness.