QuoteWASHINGTON — They hear that their cause is lost, that demographics and the march of history have doomed their campaign to keep marriage only between a man and a woman. But the young conservatives who oppose same-sex marriage — unlike most of their generation — remain undaunted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/us/politics/young-opponents-of-gay-marriage-remain-undaunted.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130321

Can someone (maybe someone conservative) please explain why same-sex marriage is a conservative/liberal issue? My understanding is that conservatives would like to see less government involvement in our private lives, right? When the government tells people what couples should be allowed to marry and what couples shouldn't, isn't that EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of the way conservatives want the government/individual relationship to function?

Quote from: suzifrommd on March 22, 2013, 08:48:59 PM
Can someone (maybe someone conservative) please explain why same-sex marriage is a conservative/liberal issue? My understanding is that conservatives would like to see less government involvement in our private lives, right? When the government tells people what couples should be allowed to marry and what couples shouldn't, isn't that EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of the way conservatives want the government/individual relationship to function?

Wrong

I wouldn't call them conservative but right wing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_wing

It's a religious issue and the religious right owns most right wingers.

They are conservatives in the sense that they want less government control over themselves and more control over the lives of those they disagree with. It's what those faiths do, it's what they've always done from their introduction into the long sad history of our species. They are ruthless theocrats and I will fight them till the day I die.

Many conservatives want to preserve things as they are, a.k.a. the white middle age men in control.  Some even wish to return to the way things were.  Again where white middle age men are in control.

The advancement of civil rights always is a threat to the conservative way of thinking.

Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConservatismConservatism (Latin: conservare, "to retain") is a political and social philosophy that promotes retaining traditional social institutions. A person who follows the philosophies of conservatism is referred to as a traditionalist or conservative.

Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiberalismLiberalism (from the Latin liberalis)[1] is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty, equality, and justice (including both legal justice and social justice).[2] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade, and private property.

Young Conservatives hope to ride the coattails of older ones into power.

I would also say that they're right wing.

The irony is of course that there's no difference whatsoever usually between the religious organization or church they attend and communism or Stalinism.

Hence they are afraid of anyone who is different from them.

Quote from: suzifrommd on March 22, 2013, 08:48:59 PM
Can someone (maybe someone conservative) please explain why same-sex marriage is a conservative/liberal issue? My understanding is that conservatives would like to see less government involvement in our private lives, right? When the government tells people what couples should be allowed to marry and what couples shouldn't, isn't that EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of the way conservatives want the government/individual relationship to function?

Conservative just means wanting to preserve institutions that have existed and worked for a given culture in the past (using its original and I think more appropriate meaning). It is as much rooted in the brain (or at least correlated with brain wiring) than it is related to which political party you externally support.

Research has shown conservatives tend, as a rule, to be lower on the personality dimension "openness to experience", which is linked with abstract thought and tolerance for new ideas. Conservatives want to keep society together. They think it would be "chaos" if people could just "do whatever they want". Since preserving a society has strong links to having children (who will then be taught the values of the older generation) and raising families (the basic unit of societal structure - structure and stability being very important to them), they tend to be protective about the family, and tend to "worry" more about procreation.

Gay people, who cannot naturally procreate with each other, and thus not "naturally" create a family, raise hackles. They not only break with tradition but threaten the very institution they see as essential to the survival of their culture and/or worldview, a challenge to which would greatly distress most conservatives. It is their way of finding stability, and preserving what is good, in a sometimes chaotic and unpredictable world. (I suspect there is a lot of anxiety in the mindset of the typical conservative, or at least concern).

Obviously, I don't agree with their views on gay marriage, but things always make more sense when you understand the mindset of the people pushing them. The traits that predispose a person to become conservative are not bad; preserving what is good in society is important, but when you preserve something for the sake of preserving something, regardless of its usefulness or morality, it becomes an issue.

It definitely a bandwagon matter. They jump onto this to attract a type of attention they believe will win them support. Though I tend to believe they know they are going to loose this one and are simply staking their ground for a possible, 'Told you So' claim in the future.

The important thing is for all of us to stick to the actual issue, equality.

Riders not welcome!