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22 January 2005 
Harper adds heat, not light, to marriage debate.
I don't want to get into the polygamy debate, but I fear if we do this [legalize same-sex marriage], the next thing on the Liberal agenda will be polygamy, and who knows what else.The argument that legalized gay marriage will lead inexorably to state-sanctioned polygamy should not be off limits in the current debate. Perhaps, like Colby Cosh and Andrew Coyne, Mr. Harper has an interesting theory on that subject. But we'll apparently never know. "I don't want to get into the... debate," Harper says. Fine, but if he refuses to participate, he should stop lobbing grenades into the middle of it as he passes by.- Stephen Harper, quoted in the Globe and Mail, 21 Jan 05, p. A4
Even aside from his own unexpressed ideas on the slipperiness of the gay-marriage slope, it seems unlikely that Harper really fears that the Liberals will soon be rolling out pro-polygamy legislation, let alone "who knows what else." If he does, again, he should provide some evidence for that fear. In the absence of this, his comments are pretty clearly an attempt to gain support by pandering to voters who do have such fears. Just like the Conservatives' placing of anti-gay marriage ads only in ethnic newspapers, it seems to be a purely political ploy, and one intended to appeal to emotions, not minds.
Cynics will say that telling people what they want to hear, what will get them on your side, is necessary in politics today. I still have a naive hope, however, that integrity and principles are not completely irrelevant, at least in my own party.
(Cross-posted to The Shotgun, where Ezra Levant has kindly invited me to participate. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the post below.)
04:05 PM |