Cheney Comes Out In Favor Of Gay Marriage
“Freedom means freedom for everyone.” Which sounds suspiciously like something I’ve been saying about gay marriage for some time now, to the dismay of many of the right-leaning commenters here.
CHENEY: As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don’t support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. But I don’t have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that.
I’ve always liked Dick Cheney. Even when I’ve disagreed with him, which hasn’t been that often, I’ve respected him for his no-nonsense approach to politics. But I’m finding a brand new level of affinity for him now based on that “freedom means freedom for everyone” comment. Not so much because I really care all that much about gay marriage as an issue (I don’t, really) but rather because “freedom means freedom for everyone” is exactly the message conservatives need to hear right now.
The problem with Republicans over the last several years boils down to them not meaning what they say. They talk about limited government, but they don’t mean limited government. A pro-freedom message goes hand-in-hand with a limited government message. Because government isn’t freedom. Government is the exact opposite of freedom.
Now, some level of government and thus some curtailing of our freedoms is necessary to live in a civilized society, which is why government should be kept to a minimum so that freedom can be maximized.
Let’s hope that Cheney means what he says. Let’s hope Dick Cheney keeps talking like this. Because someone like Cheney could deliver the sort of shift the GOP needs to get back on track.
