Could a liberal lesbian rights activist actually win South Carolina’s 1st congressional district? Sure looks possible, as Linda Ketner has closed to within 5 in her aggressive challenge to incumbent Rep. Henry Brown. Of interest, Ketner is also a member of “the Cabinet” which Time just published an interesting piece on. It’s an informal group of gay tech and hereditary millionaires, who have been investing large sums toward a systematic defeat of social conservative Republicans nationwide.
The success of Ketner and other socially liberal Democrats running on explicitly pro-gay rights platforms in traditionally social conservative friendly districts, would certainly tend to complete the trinity of broader Republican political decline. Not only are economic and national security focused conservatives losing on their traditional strong suit thanks to economic woes and Iraq, but the cultural debate may be shifting substantially leftward as well.
My daughter told me that the Young Republican who took the part of McCain in a community event aimed at teenagers was a flamboyantly gay young man with an adorable lisp. (Her description.)
The Cabinet seems to have a cause with a sell-by date.
I’ve wished for a long time that the Republicans would just drop the anti-gay rhetoric. They’ve made a lot of progress on that, sure. And in terms of actual policy, the Democrats aren’t really that much different.
I wonder, though, what might happen if the Republicans (under the banner of personal liberty and responsibility) got to the LEFT of the Democratic party on gay issues.
I know, it ain’t gonna happen anytime soon, but stranger things have happened, and the Republicans are going to have to reinvent themselves sooner or later, even if McCain pulls an upset.
It’s an interesting question, but I wouldn’t be so skeptical of a shift happening. The two-party system makes for large tents and who is in them is constantly changing, even if it’s hard to notice in real-time. For instance sometimes you have to pause and consider how utterly bizarre it is that the party of industrial labor unions, has also become the party of anti-industrial radical environmentalists. Something thrown into dramatic recognition only this weekend by the Obama coal comments.