The majority of Democrats and many Moderate Republicans oppose the amendment, citing it as pandering to the religious right, clearly bigoted or simply unnecessary.

In his Saturday radio address, Bush cast the amendment as a defense of the stability of society and a strike back at judges who have overturned state laws similar in intent to the proposed legislation.

“In our free society, people have the right to choose how they live their lives,” Bush said. “And in a free society, decisions about such a fundamental social institution as marriage should be made by the people, not by the courts.”

Does that sound at least a little contradictary to anyone else? “…people have the right to choose how they live their lives.” But apparently that doesn’t apply to the desire of same-sex couples to make their unions legally and, by some definitions, morally, recognizable.

Of course, in Bush’s “free society”, it is “the people” who make the decisions on social institution, not the courts – which sounds great coming from the man who lost (by narrow margin) the popular vote in his first presidential election and, despite controversy with Florida ballot counting, was finally instated by decision of the Supreme Court. (the first election since 1876 in which the Supreme Court affected the decision)

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, it’s so sad to me to see the leaders of our country be too cowardly to embrace social change and expell centuries of bigotry. Perhaps “home of the politically and religiously compromised” would be a better slogan?

/// Watching “Broken Flowers” starring Bill Murray