Posted on 03/31/2010 1:29:38 PM PDT by iowamark
DES MOINES – Gov. Chet Culver today praised the Democratically controlled Legislature for not starting the process to amend the state constitution to declare that civil marriage in Iowa can only legally enjoin one man and one woman.
“We stood firm for the civil rights of every Iowan by saying loudly and clearly that any and all efforts to add discriminatory amendments to our state constitution have no place in our state constitution,” Culver said in assessing the 2010 legislative work product.
Culver said he personally believe marriage should be between a man and a woman and there has been no change in that position since the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously decided on April 3, 2009, to strike down a state marriage law – paving the way for civil marriages between two people of the same gender.
“Regardless of our personal views, we have a line that needs to be drawn between the executive branch and the judicial branch and I think Iowans are ready to move on and accept that unanimous decision,” he told reporters.
“I think the overwhelming majority of Iowans do not want to amend our constitution in such a way that’s discriminatory. I think that’s the bottom line,” Culver added. “I think Iowans want to move forward and the Supreme Court has spoken loudly and clearly and I think it’s time to move on.”
The first-term Democrat faces a tough re-election fight against a three-member GOP field that supports a constitutional amendment on marriage. He said he is comfortable with his position on the marriage issue and looks forward to hitting the campaign trail to defend his four-year record in office.
That's why the Legislative Branch would be the ones to add the amendment. But just grab some more readymade statements to sound like a statesman.
Why do we let Iowa pick our presidential candidates again?
No doubt, Culver's position on this issue is one of the reasons he is facing a landslide defeat.
Every judge that decided to create the "right" for homosexuals to marriage needs to lose their job as well.
Because no one has come up with a better idea.
Maybe the unanimous decision was due to a gaping hole in our state constitution.
The system is clearly broken. run 4 rounds of “super tuesdays”, with a dozen states in each round.
Meaning no one should even think about running without a few million dollars in their war chest before the first vote is cast. So much for "grass roots."
No thanks.
VanderPlaatz would lead us back to sanity here.
I never knew Iowa was as far left as it seems to be.
and getting worse...
In Culver's dreams.
Don't be surprised when we see a reversal of fortune for the lefties come November.
Who was the last “grass roots” candidate who won?
A communistity organizizer named Barack Hussein Obama who had a good story? And a Socialist billionaire pal named George Soros?
Astroturf maybe.
Today, anyone with a vision for the USA need only hit the bricks, knock on some doors and build a groundswell of support by appealing to a few thousand voters in IA and/or NH to start with.
But, unless I'm missing something, your solution appears to guarantee that will become impossible. To have any chance at all, the candidate would have to raise many millions of dollars before the first vote is cast, probably by selling his soul to well-heeled special interests. Sure, most or all are already doing that but, the point is, your solution appears to make that a requirement.
Under that scenario, say goodbye forever to the idea of smaller government. Special interests beget bigger government because that's how they get their payback—via political favors and government dollars flowing in their direction.
Throwing out the baby (the process) with the bathwater (the current crop of corrupt politicians) makes no sense to me. In fact, your solution seems to ensure we'll never be able to throw out the bathwater.
Give me a name to show when it was last possible under the current model.
The Rats front loaded our primary selection with their picks (crossover voting).
Rats got behind McCain in 2006 and left his candidacy in the dust after he secured the GOP nomination (they then moved on to work for the Obama campaign).
America got punked and the GOP would be foolish to repeat that mistake.
Another liberal idiot who has Presidential aspirations.
Culver is a legend in his own mind.
Just because it hasn't happened, doesn't mean it's not possible. You want to make it impossible.
The Rats front loaded our primary selection with their picks (crossover voting).
How does your idea solve that? Seems a better solution would be to schedule our primaries on the same day as theirs, so that they'll want to vote in their own rather than cross over. That would be (and is) up to the states or parties, of course.
Rats got behind McCain in 2006 and left his candidacy in the dust after he secured the GOP nomination
Still wondering how your idea solves that. Even if the parties' primaries are on the same day, when one party's nomination is sewed up, those people will naturally want to crossover. If that's your problem, it seems a better solution would be to prevent crossing over.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.