Preaching and practicing

My first reaction to the story about Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter was "who cares?" If he patronized Pamela Martin & Associates' escort service along with other sorry senators, sad sack military men and assorted other public figures on the public payroll, that's his business and his wife's business, not mine. He claims to have confessed a "serious sin" to his wife and applied for forgiveness with the god of his tribe, but neither are making statements. I don't think "sin" is the business of the government but I have to admit taking pleasure in the irony of yet another "Sanctity of Marriage" hypocrite being exposed as no more than a meddler and opportunist.

The sanctity of marriage and indeed the sanctity of anything isn't the government's business, as our Constitution aims to insure, but Vitter is the co-author of the Federal Marriage Amendment, that attempted to impose religious criteria on a civil institution and although he may invent gods to forgive him, he won't get it from me.

"We need a U.S. senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts values." said he in his campaign, somehow ignoring that he's trying to force his religious values on a nation. "This [ gay marriage] is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history, and our two U.S. senators won't do anything about it,"

Of course the "Hollywood left" has nothing to do with a social change that has affected such diverse places as Mexico and Canada and Europe and I suspect there are older institutions in human history, but down in the Bayou, where men are men even if they can't read too well, it's just another tail they pin on the donkey. It's the culture that is redefining marriage and it's the culture and the people who should. God is not a US citizen, does not pay taxes and doesn't get to vote. People do and they get to vote against the involvement of religion and its bigotry. If Vitter is bitter about secular democracy and would prefer the rule of godly authorities, he doesn't belong in public office and I do hope he's swept out in '08 along with the rest of the trash.

I don't know or really care about Vitter's marriage, but it seems that it's suffered more from the tail that Dave got than the one he's trying to pin on "liberals."