Back in 1990, Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Clayton
Williams was leading his Democrat opponent in the polls by a
comfortable 20-point margin – until he stuck his Texas-sized boot
in his mouth by likening rape to bad weather.
“If it’s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it,” the Texas oilman
joked, dooming his campaign.
I guess it’s a good thing Mr. Williams doesn’t live here in
Nevada, because there are three political inevitables on the horizon
that we surely would not want him commenting on.
The first is gay marriage, which has actually been inevitable for a
long time; it’s just that a lot of people are only now beginning to
realize it.
When the notion was first put forward in Hawaii in the 1990s, it was
a state issue. But once Congress and President Clinton got involved
and passed DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, it became a federal
issue.
And the 1960s Supreme Court decision in the “Loving” case –
which declared marriage a “right” – all but guarantees that gay
marriage will soon no longer be a state issue, but the law of the
land…the entire land, including Nevada.
Indeed, as long as the government extends special benefits to married
couples, the argument is no longer about defending the “traditional
definition of marriage,” but equal protection under the law. So
the big mistake for tradition marriage supporters isn’t in letting
gays into the institution of marriage; it was letting the government
into it.
The second inevitable in Nevada is the lawful use and possession of
marijuana. Not just medicinal marijuana; recreational as well.
It’s a generational thing. The “Reefer Madness” generation is
dying off and the largest segment of the voting-age population is now
Baby Boomers who grew up smoking weed in the ’60-70s (long before
Barack Obama started snorting coke).
While marijuana advocates certainly aren’t about to admit it,
“medical” marijuana was just the proverbial camel’s nose under
the tent. And once smoking a doobie became acceptable for cancer
patients, it was a short, inevitable step to general acceptance.
Of course, it hasn’t hurt that the nation’s Drug War has been an
expensive, miserable failure.
The third inevitability is the re-election of Gov. Brian Sandoval
(R&R-Advertising).
Upon recent announcements that State Sen. Tick Segerblom (D) and
Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak (D) would not challenge the
incumbent, the Left and much of the mainstream media (but I repeat
myself) bemoaned the fact that Democrats wouldn’t have a
gubernatorial candidate this year.
I beg to differ.
Gov. Sandoval has raised taxes, increased spending, grown government,
implemented ObamaCare, expanded Medicaid, given driver’s licenses
to unlawful immigrants and done absolutely nothing for school choice.
In reality it’s conservative REPUBLICANS who don’t have a
gubernatorial candidate this year!
Relax and enjoy it.