ABC News, via Steve Benen:"I'm confident American public opinion will continue to move on the question toward majority support, and sooner or later the Republican Party will catch up to it," Schmidt plans to say according to excerpts provided to ABC News. [...]
In his Friday noontime speech, Schmidt is planning to argue that same-sex marriage is in step with principles that conservatives hold dear.
"There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage," Schmidt plans to say. "I believe conservatives, more than liberals, insist that rights come with responsibilities. No other exercise of one's liberty comes with greater responsibilities than marriage."
"It cannot be argued that marriage between people of the same sex is un American or threatens the rights of others," he will say.
"On the contrary," he will say, "it seems to me that denying two consenting adults of the same sex the right to form a lawful union that is protected and respected by the state denies them two of the most basic natural rights affirmed in the preamble of our Declaration of Independence -- liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, I believe, gives the argument of same sex marriage proponents its moral force."
"While the argument seems to be primarily about principle, Schmidt will also reportedly explain that the GOP alienates young people when it rejects equal rights," Benen writes.
True enough. Poll after poll shows that, as the age of demographic goes down, acceptance of same sex marriage goes up. It's also true that issues of liberty should be embraced by the party that wraps itself in the flag. But you've got the religious right to deal with -- they don't give a damn about liberty. Well, not about anyone else's liberty. And, further, pretty much the same argument -- along with an anti- "big government" argument -- could be used to say that the default conservative position on abortion should be pro-choice.
While I don't expect Schmidt to change anyone's mind, it's nice to see someone on the right make the case. In ten or fifteen years -- if not sooner -- it'll seem prescient.
