Gary Johnson: Family Leader Pledge ‘offensive’

It’s already been signed by Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, but don’t look for Gary Johnson to sign the Family Leader Pledge anytime soon. Instead, Johnson has placed up a YouTube ad pleading that ‘tolerance is American’:

Now, I know both Gary and I fall on the libertarian side of the GOP, but in reading the Pledge myself I only have objection to one aspect – I don’t believe we need a Constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. It’s a matter properly and best left to the states to determine. (Having said that, I think the people in New York should strive to overturn their recently passed same-sex marriage law by whatever means they can; alas, it may come down to ejecting those who supported it in their legislature when their re-election comes up. The same goes for other jurisdictions which have passed similar ill-considered laws.)

Another controversy within the Pledge comes from its reference to slavery; as an original version of the document noted:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA‟s first African-American President.

Yet in looking at the cited research I couldn’t locate that particular tidbit spelled out – it’s more likely they extrapolated data from the late 19th century and assumed the rate of black two-parent families was similarly high in the decades prior to the War Between the States. My take is that the Family Leader group was trying to make a quite valid point but got fast and loose with the facts. (A later version of the Pledge has rightly pulled the remark.)

The controversy is unfortunate because there is a lot to like about the FLP, in particular its call for “downsizing government and the enormous burden upon American families of the USA‟s $14.3 trillion public debt, its $77 trillion in unfunded liabilities, its $1.5 trillion federal deficit, and its $3.5 trillion federal budget.” That should be right up Johnson’s alley, as it should for any Republican seeking the highest office in the land.

But perhaps what bothers me most about Gary’s stand is his embrace of “tolerance,” since that can be defined in any number of ways. Should the government be in our bedrooms? Of course not. A man’s home is his castle and what he does there shouldn’t be the subject of constant examination by government snoops. But for too long we’ve been ‘tolerant’ of radical Islam and look what that brought us. There are groups and people out there who take advantage of our openness and generosity, so we need to be aware of that disturbing truth. A blanket definition one way or the other doesn’t serve us well.

Thus, you can see in part why Gary is among the also-rans in my Presidential decision-making; meanwhile, Bachmann and Santorum are near the top. I don’t think legislating morality is the answer, but being too permissive creates its own set of problems as well. Why not have a straight-arrow conservative (as opposed to a so-called “compassionate” one) in the White House?

Gary Johnson has a lot of good attributes, but I think he should moderate his strident tone on this one. Why violate the Eleventh Commandment needlessly?

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

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