Not much time to elaborate, as I am appropriately spending Father’s Day with my son. But Mary Beth Schneider has a good story in the Indy Star about Daniels’ struggle with gay rights entitled Gay rights a political tightrope for Daniels.
Daniels’ problem, I think, is that he is at heart the kind of business, country club Republican I grew up with. Problem is that Republicans, in large measure, have gotten their recent political strength from social conservatives. Personally, I don’t think I have any irreconcileable differences with business conservatives. Some haggling over the details, but very few, if any, fundamental rifts. The social conservatives, on the other hand, I’m at odds with. I don’t believe this country was founded as a Christian Nation. I don’t believe legislating morality is effective or desirable. And I believe that what goes on in the privacy of my own home, boring as it may be, is my own business. If it were just Governor Daniels and me (that’s pretty likely, right?), we could probably agree on most things fast enough to make our tee time. Unfortunately, the Governor owes the social conservatives for his election, and that leads to problems. (The anti-gay civil union amendment to the Indiana Constitution, for example.)
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