Anti-gay marriage amendment a distraction

The conservatives are at it again. Once again, social issues are rearing their ugly heads in our nation's capitol in an effort to posture for mid-term elections. These debates are a useless waste of resources, and are intended only to attempt to shore up the conservative base that the G.O.P. so often panders to.

With the Preident's approval rating at 29%, I suppose he thinks anything is worth a shot. And Anti-gay marriage has been a real crowd pleaser in the past, so why not try again? And while we're at it, let's throw in a ban on flag burning just for good measure.

The GOP sponsors of these bills admit that they have no chance of passing. "Why introduce them, then?", you may ask. Good question. The only answer I can come up with is pandering. Regardless, it's a waste of our time and money.

Personally I don't feel that it's the government's place to dictate the terms of a private, religious relationship between two people. I'm clearly a minority here, and my state of Kansas has a constitutional amendment to prove it. As a candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives, however, I must say that I don't think the average voter in my district is losing sleep over this. It's just not that important to anyone I know. So why don't we move on to the real issues of the day? Namely, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (yes, we have troops there too, remember?), and the impending war with Iran. Then there's the staggering federal debt, (the "elephant in the living room"), immigration.... the list goes on.