David Blankenhorn at the Family Scholars Blog writes:
What I love is the bit about the “all but unanimous media and elite acceptance of SSM.” What world does Blankenhorn live in? Is he somehow unaware that his co-worker Maggie Gallagher – not to mention folks like William F. Buckley Jr, John Leo and Ann Coulter – have more than a little access to the media? Did he not know his associate Elizabeth Marquardt was published in the New York Times? Has he missed out on seeing gay-haters like Glenn Stanton and James Dobson interviewed respectfully on major television networks?
Is he unaware that FOX exists? (There is no gay-basher in the USA that Sean Hannity won’t interview with softball questions – Hannity recently gave a fawning interview to the head of the folks who want South Carolina to leave the United States over the gay marriage issue). Is he unaware that talk radio exists?
There is no credible standard by which same-sex marriage opponants could be said to be “all but unanimously” absent from the media.
Similarly, what “elites” is David refering to? Apparently, he doesn’t consider either President Bush or John Kerry (both of whom oppose gay marriage), or the vast majority of both the Senate and the House, to be “elites.”
He doesn’t consider himself to be an elite – since every non-elite American citizen is a think tank scholar Harvard graduate (gosh, nothing elite about that!).
He doesn’t consider the Bradley Foundation, with its $500 million dollars of assets, “elite”; nor the mulitmillionairre Coors family, nor the Olin Foundation, nor the Scaife Foundation – all of whom have given away loads of cash to support conservative think tanks, including David’s own think tank.
College professors who oppose SSM? Not elite.
To recap: Ivy-league-educated think tank scholars like Blankenhorn are not elites. The multimillionairres who support Blankenhorn’s and other right-wing think tanks are not elites. The most powerful leaders of both major political parties are not elites. Professors are not elites, not even Harvard professors like Mary Ann Glendon or Richard Parker. Even William F. Buckley Jr. is not an elite.
Is there any non-partisan definition of “elite” in which David’s claim even remotely makes sense?
Finally, in case David Blankenhorn hasn’t noticed, folks who support marriage equality have faced “fierce opposition,” too.
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If there’s a legitimate case to be made against gay marriage, David and his associates have come as close to making it as anyone (and far closer than most SSM opponants). And they’ve done it without resorting to virulent homophobia, for which they should be given credit. Nonetheless, this sort of counterfactual self-pity-party about media access, “elites” and “fierce opposition” is advacacy at its weakest and most partisan.
It’s particular galling coming from David Blankenhorn, whose life – from his elite education to his elite think-tank gig – has given him an ability to participate in the gay marriage debate far beyond what most Americans could dream of. I’m sure he’s worked very hard for what he’s acheived. But given his privileged position, compared to the average US citizen, David should have the good grace not to whine about “elites.”.
Previously, Maggie Gallagher, a white educated elite woman, compained that it was the “white educated elites” who were promoting gay marriage. She was criticized in this post, . Daniel Henry, who, based on his post, appears to be a black attorney, didn’t think he needed Maggie Gallagher to tell him what he think should about civil rights struggles.
The white SSM opponents seem to have dropped the “white and educated” out of their repetoire.
it always struck me as strange every time SSM opponents speak of the ‘white elite’ when nearly every one who spoke were part of that group.
You seem to be missing the modern definition of “elite.” If I understand correctly, “elite” is a synonym for “liberal” or “progressive” or “left wing” or “immoral” or “communist” or “anti-American.”
Please stop using the outdated “definition” of “elite.”
Thank you,
The Common Folk
I saw most of the people lining up outside the Multnomah County Office Building in March for marriage licenses, and they struck me as, well, representative of Portland. Especially the lesbians in their Columbia Sportswear jackets.
When it comes to same-sex marriage, it shouldn’t matter what percentage of people oppose it, since it’s a constitutional right – I’m sure most people opposed interracial marriage and school desegregation when those decisions came down, but fundamental rights don’t subject themselves to referenda…
One of the great rhetorical triumphs of the right has been to turn “élite” from meaning “Donald Trump” to meaning “some obscure deconstructionist English prof or government regulator.” It isn’t Sam Walton who’s a member of the elite! He’s just an American businessman, hands dirty in the real world, in the old traditions of American enterprise. No, it’s those meddling Washington bureaucrats who want to raise the minimum wage without working in the real world for a day in their lives! (the government, except the military, and academia are excluded from the “real world” right-speak.)
That’s Sean Hannity, not Hannerty. Good post though.
One thing, Amp: the Institute is not, in fact, an anti-gay marriage think tank. While David and some of the scholars affiliated with the Institute oppose SSM, there are other folks at the Institute who support it. My understanding is that the Institute itself does not take an official stance, that actually, the Institute rarely takes sides on specific policy debates (I believe one noteworthy recent exception is the Institute’s support for the President’s Healthy Marriage Initiative). The Family Scholars blog is not meant to reflect any sort of Institute policy, really, but is a space for discussion; as I’m sure you’ve noticed David, Elizabeth and Mr. Sylvester don’t always agree on everything, including gay marriage.
Point well taken, Sara. I’ve edited the post to correct the error.
Oh, and thanks for the spellcheck, Raznor – I’ve corrected that too.
Eh, I do what I can.
Hi. Nice site. I just stopped by to plug my brand-new book. It’s called “How To Be Part of the Elite On Only 25K A Year Before Taxes.” I know you’ll all love it. Kisses.
P.S.– Don’t take Wellbutrin. It sent me to the Emergency Room with horrific splitting headaches and several other unpleasant symptoms unsuitable for discussion on such a wholesome, un-elite, family values-type blog.
Thank You, and have a great Halloween. :p