Same-sex marriage and the political parties

It has been amusing to watch the parade of Democratic senators in recent days who have "gotten religion" about same-sex marriage and hurried to catch up with their constituents by coming out in favor of legalizing same-sex marriages. But it is hardly surprising, since for their largely urban, largely young political base this issue is clearly already settled. The only problem they face is dealing with their second-largest voting block, black Protestants, many of whom remain fairly conservative on this issue.

Republicans, on the other hand, face a serious dilemma. Same-sex marriage is a real hot-button issue to their base in the religious right, so they can't afford to alienate them. On the other hand, as the past few elections have proved, the religious right alone does not provide a large enough base to win national elections. As I have suggested before, the only Republican strategy that works is to shut up about contentious social issues (abortion, same-sex marriage, etc.), and shift the focus onto our fiscal problems and the need for fiscal sanity.  Whether the religious right is smart enough to let that happen, or so ideologically-driven that they will continue to hamper the Republican party by sabotaging any candidate moderate enough to get elected in a nation election remains to be seen.