Elections Matter

This has become the mantra for Bryan over at the Conservative Wahoo since Obama’s election last November. I can see no better application of his admonition than in the story featured in this morning’s New York Times concerning an advocacy group’s intention to file a federal suit challenging provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in 1996.

The group Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders is seeking to force the federal government to extend federal benefits such as Social Security survivors’ payments, to spouses in same sex marriages in states where such unions are recognized by the state. The Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the federal government from recognizing same sex marriages, extending this prohibition to federal benefits.

This has less to do with extending such benefits, as the intended plaintiffs concede, and all to do with circumventing the will of the Legislative Branch. Because while Obama knows he doesn’t have the votes to specifically repeal this legislation, he does have the ability and the majority in Congress to appoint federal judges who may use their power of judicial review to “right” perceived social wrongs.

Elections matter.