| It's been well documented that mayor Lonegan has had some problems keeping his metaphorical tent open in past years. In 2006, Lonegan made national headlines when he demanded that a Spanish-language McDonalds billboard be taken down. Lonegan's demands even elicited a response in the New York Times from McDonalds Chief Marketing Officer, Bill Lamar. Then, on March 21st on his PoliticsNJ blog, Lonegan rails against labor unions (which he calls "Big Labor"), citing non sequitur "facts", like how the unemployment rate is higher in "heavily unionized states" (whatever that statistically means) than less unionized states. In another blog posting on May 29, 2007, Lonegan disses low income housing, claiming that low income housing is "intellectually bankrupt" while further stating that no one has a right to own a home. It's fitting Lonegan tags the subsequent blog post with the word "socialism".
So let's see - demands Spanish-language billboard to be removed, disses unions, disses low income housing. I think mayor Lonegan's tent looks like this now: gay, black, hispanic, poor, white, male, business owner, poor, blue-collar.
So, when I picked up today's Record and saw a big red elephant holding a rainbow flag (odd enough) and then I saw Steve Lonegan's picture a few inches up, I thought to myself "oh, this is gonna be good". And then I read the headline "Raising the tent: Why the GOP should welcome gays into the party" and I thought what catch does Lonegan have for us know. I mean, frankly, how could anyone in their right mind believe that Lonegan, who from the above examples has proven to be the party of white, male, business owners, actually wants gays to be GOP members for the betterment of gays themselves. And thus I read on. I figured his "using" of gays would be sprinkled around in code language, causing readers to be extra meticulous to find it. And then I read this:
Historically, gay Americans have struggled for the freedom to live their lives the way they choose in order to pursue happiness. This is the American Dream, the cornerstone of conservative thinking, and it is these principles that make the increasingly influential gay community the conservative movement's natural ally.
It may surprise some to learn that the very same conservative who refused to be coerced into performing civil union ceremonies by government believes gay voters should be conservative, yet this very instance points to our common ground - a commitment to the rights of the individual and opposition to the power of a collectivist state.
Those two paragraphs from mayor Lonegan are the most bunk-filled words I've ever read. Gays have struggled for freedom because your party, Mr. Lonegan, has restricted such freedom. And I'm pretty sure the Founding Fathers didn't place a "conservative restriction" on Americans to pursue happiness either.
And then the second paragraph I highlighted. There's no code language necessary - mayor Lonegan just straight blurts out that he "refused to be coerced" into performing civil union ceremonies because they were the result of the "collectivist state". Ok, there's a little bit of code language. That is, if the NJ Legislature (the powerful collectivist state) passes a civil union bill, and the governor signs it, it should be disregarded because the "individual" (i.e. - voters) didn't directly approve it. That argument is so illogical based on America's legal constructs of both government and marriage that it's laughable.
First of all, marriage, in a legal sense, is a construct of government (whether it be local, state, or national). That's why two people can't just go and claim that they are married - it needs to be formally established on a legal document. So I'm not sure how gays could get married, or "civil unionized", without the aid of some government legislature, whether it be local, state, or national.
The trump card here is having ballot measures that voters directly vote for, which you can see mayor Lonegan advocating with his statements. While that's all well and good, if that were the case, why have any legislature at all? Our entire governmental system is established as a republic; that is, the voters elect representatives (senators, presidents, councilpeople, mayors, etc.) who represent their ideals, and vote in the appropriate governmental setting so we don't have to. To be honest, mayor Lonegan's ridiculous statements ring of disrespect for our American government system.
I think it's obvious here that mayor Lonegan wants nothing to do with the gay community; he doesn't, has never, and will never represent or advocate on their behalf. Just as he doesn't, has never, and will never represent or advocate anything on the behalf of blacks, hispanics, the poor, or blue-collar workers. Mayor Lonegan wants to use the gay community as potential votes for his Republican party, who's power in Bergen County (home to Lonegan's Bogota) has been crumbling. I think it's obvious who's in the GOP "Big Tent" - only white, male, business owners. |
