Issue Importance
I remember watching Jon Stewart's interview of Mike Huckabee a last week. What I find most interesting is that everyone rants about how awesome Jon's takedown of Huckabee's anti-gay marriage stance is. That was in the second part of the interview.
Nobody seems to be talking about how disturbing Huckabee's social/economic views in the first half were. He basically said that crime happened because so many people don't play by the rules. If we governed ourselves better, we wouldn't need big government! Which is why conservatives push so hard for better boarder security and police forces, despite wanting lower taxes.
This bothers me. Because it says that government is there to enforce civility. This is not the same thing as protection. Protection would involve more social safety nets. I think Jon summed it up here:
"The fact that you would trust the government with tanks but not with cheese to give out to poor people... You gotta say to yourself, ...you know I don't get it!"
I think this is why I'm bothered by people attacking Rachel Maddow for not asking Huckabee about gay marriage. There is so much that is disturbing about the viewpoints of Huckabee and other Republicans. And quite frankly, I'm bothered that Obama being more pro-gay marriage than McCain was such a big issue in the reason to vote Democrat in comparison to say, health care, welfare, education, etc. Now this is mainly internet fandom. And admittedly internet fandom is primarily young and young people don't always care as much about economic issues. But I do not see why gay marriage is a bigger issue than welfare. (Note that I'm not saying gay marriage is not important.)
People saying that most people on welfare are working the system is classist. Insisting that there are many women who pop out kids just to get more money and avoid having to work is classist and sexist. The idea that everyone on welfare could get a job if they got off their lazy ass is classist and frankly ridiculous. I've heard this all from right-wingers. And yet politicians cutting welfare funding or health care or university funding isn't called out as classist, while being against gay marriage is seen as bigoted.
And again, I'm not saying that being against gay marriage is NOT bigoted. I'm just confused as to why that's the main issue for so many university students.
I suspect it's because most middle-class white students know people who are GLBTQ. But they're less likely to know someone who's been on welfare. People are more likely to care about things that affect them or people they know directly.
Maybe I'm just thrown off because the economic side has always been the focus of my family.
EDIT: ...I'm not trying to marginalize the violence that people in the queer community face. Or imply that the GLBTQ community is mostly white middle-class people. I just don't see why gay marriage is given so much discussion in comparison to other topics.
Nobody seems to be talking about how disturbing Huckabee's social/economic views in the first half were. He basically said that crime happened because so many people don't play by the rules. If we governed ourselves better, we wouldn't need big government! Which is why conservatives push so hard for better boarder security and police forces, despite wanting lower taxes.
This bothers me. Because it says that government is there to enforce civility. This is not the same thing as protection. Protection would involve more social safety nets. I think Jon summed it up here:
"The fact that you would trust the government with tanks but not with cheese to give out to poor people... You gotta say to yourself, ...you know I don't get it!"
I think this is why I'm bothered by people attacking Rachel Maddow for not asking Huckabee about gay marriage. There is so much that is disturbing about the viewpoints of Huckabee and other Republicans. And quite frankly, I'm bothered that Obama being more pro-gay marriage than McCain was such a big issue in the reason to vote Democrat in comparison to say, health care, welfare, education, etc. Now this is mainly internet fandom. And admittedly internet fandom is primarily young and young people don't always care as much about economic issues. But I do not see why gay marriage is a bigger issue than welfare. (Note that I'm not saying gay marriage is not important.)
People saying that most people on welfare are working the system is classist. Insisting that there are many women who pop out kids just to get more money and avoid having to work is classist and sexist. The idea that everyone on welfare could get a job if they got off their lazy ass is classist and frankly ridiculous. I've heard this all from right-wingers. And yet politicians cutting welfare funding or health care or university funding isn't called out as classist, while being against gay marriage is seen as bigoted.
And again, I'm not saying that being against gay marriage is NOT bigoted. I'm just confused as to why that's the main issue for so many university students.
I suspect it's because most middle-class white students know people who are GLBTQ. But they're less likely to know someone who's been on welfare. People are more likely to care about things that affect them or people they know directly.
Maybe I'm just thrown off because the economic side has always been the focus of my family.
EDIT: ...I'm not trying to marginalize the violence that people in the queer community face. Or imply that the GLBTQ community is mostly white middle-class people. I just don't see why gay marriage is given so much discussion in comparison to other topics.