Realizing that he can't win the Republican Party's presidential nomination without playing to the virulently anti-gay crowd, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum again trumpeted his "traditional values" in an interview with the Des Moines Register.
And, surprisingly, amid all of his ideological hate-mongering, Santorum makes a valid point: "You can't have 50 different definitions of marriage."
The candidate continued:
It's wrong and we should fight it in every state and we should try to pass a federal law that makes sure that it is a uniform definition. … I think this is an issue that needs to be settled collectively by the American public, not by a few groups of elites who think it best to redesign the American culture.
Santorum's right: we shouldn't have 50 definitions of marriage, and, yes, we do need a federal amendment on the matter.
However, his ultimate conclusion — that the amendment should ban same-sex nuptials — runs against the American grain, not only in terms of democratic freedoms, but also popular opinion: polls consistently show that the majority of the nation believes gay couples should be allowed the same marriage rights as their straight friends and neighbors.
And our federal government should reflect that…
