Chuck Colson
New York has become the largest state to approve so-called same-sex “marriage.” Supporters, obviously, were delighted at the news: Parades, street parties and countless other demonstrations of their feelings of moral superiority.
One of the most outlandish such demonstrations was found at Slate.com. There, a headline spoke of the “dead hand” keeping other states from approving same-sex “marriage.”
Now, in normal usage, “dead hand” refers to events in the distant past that disproportionately affect the present. But in Slate’s usage, the term was referring to recent popular votes, many less than five years ago, to prohibit same-sex marriage. It’s difficult to imagine a better example of the failure of elite opinion to understand how most Americans think and even to understand how democracy really works.
