Recently, I read an article (which I can no longer find) that showed that conservative opinion only has a shelf life of a generation. What this means is that after a generation, conservative opinion becomes so abhorrent that no one is willing to claim it. Take, for example, the opinion on civil rights in the 1960s: conservatives (on the federal level) didn’t say they were against the Voting Rights Act as a matter of policy. It was just that they believed in states’ rights. Few people hold such an opinion today, because we see it for what it was: disguised racism.

I know that liberals are on the right side of history. Assuming the civilization doesn’t disintegrate, we will continue to see progress in such areas as abortion rights and stem cell research. But I still find myself amazed to see where conservatives come down on the issue of gay rights. I’m not talking about being against them; that makes perfect sense; they are on the wrong side of history and in 20 years they will deny they ever held the bigoted views they now hold. What I don’t understand are people like the Cheneys who are radically conservative in all ways except one: gay rights. And why? Because their daughter is gay.

How can these kinds of conservatives look at their entire ideology with this one exception carved out and still maintain their faith (because it is nothing if not pure faith) in the rest of their belief system? Why does it not make them think, “Maybe I’m wrong about all those other things I have no first-hand experience with.” Certainly it is true that the Cheneys would be absolutely against gay rights if it were not for their daughter. How can they continue to think that they would have conservative ideas about welfare if they had any experience with being economically challenged? How can Dick Chaney continue to think that he would be so pro-war if he had not had better things to do than serve in the military during the Vietnam War?

There has been a lot of coverage of Maureen Walsh’s speech about ESSB 6239, the Washington State law legalizing same-sex marriage. It is a good speech. But again: doesn’t she see the problem? It’s easy to hate Jews when you don’t know any. And it is just as easy to hate the poor when you don’t know any. But like I said: it’s a good speech.

And One More Thing

I think I’m going to go crazy if another conservative tells me how much they miss Clinton. What this means is that conservatives, when not given a daily diet of Fox News propaganda and Talk Radio hate, forget why they hated Clinton: because they were instructed to. It’s the same reason they hate Obama, who is, after all, the same moderate president Clinton was. But what really drives me crazy is the thought that in ten years, I’ll have to listen to these same fucktards tell me how much they miss Obama.