POLITICS: America may be ready for a new political party. ... The problem is not that the two parties are polarized. In many ways they're closer than ever. The problem is that the parties in Washington, and the people on the ground in America, are polarized. There is an increasing and profound distance between the rulers of both parties and the people--between the elites and the grunts, between those in power and those who put them there. ... Right now the Republicans and Democrats in Washington seem, from the outside, to be an elite colluding against the voter. They're in agreement: immigration should not be controlled but increased, spending will increase, etc. Are there some dramatic differences? Yes. But both parties act as if they see them not as important questions (gay marriage, for instance) but as wedge issues. Which is, actually, abusive of people on both sides of the question. If it's a serious issue, face it. Don't play with it. -- Peggy Noonan, "Third Time," opinionjournal.com, 6/1/06

HOMOSEXUALITY: If someone with homosexual urges must be defined as a homosexual, then I must be defined as a murderer, a thief, and all the other nasty impulses present in my being. The whole point of morality is the suppressing of wrong or inappropriate urges, and the encouragement of good ones. -- Nathanael Blake, "Identity v. Action," townhall.com, 6/2/06

REPUBLICANS: Who's really the Republican base? The corporations that funnel all that money to the politicians and the party, or the American citizens who vote?... The direction we are headed, it's easy to see whom the Republicans view as their base. It ain't Joe Voter. -- Jeff Adams, "Republicans are Ditching Their Base", libertypost.org, 8/13/05

DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE: [The liberal redefinition of marriage] will not produce a tremendous number of gay unions in this nation, in fact the overall effect will likely be quite low according to the numbers. But what we have learned in the ten years we have observed this effect in other nations is that it will de-emphasize the need for marriage all together, and that will leave children vulnerable.And it is overwhelmingly clear, and the data does not leave us in the dark on this, children do best when parented by a mother and a father. Marriage is not aprivate act. It is an institution which bears direct accountability to building our society. -- Maggie Gallagher, quoted by Kevin McCullough, townhall.com, 6/5/06

DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE: We can not trust the likes of Kennedy, Clinton, and Leahy when they tell us that states are capable of protecting marriage for themselves. The will of the people is being ignored - just ask the voters of Massachusetts. That state does not have redefined marriage because of what voters wanted. More than seventy percent of the voters, oppose the state's redefining of marriage.It was four judges, who were not elected who decided such redefinition should occur. -- Kevin McCullough, townhall.com, 6/5/06

DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE: So, essentially, the argument in opposition to a federal marriage amendment comes down to this: Sex trumps God. Sex trumps religious liberty. Sex trumps the well-being of children. Sex trumps personal conscience. Sex trumps the Constitution. -- Alan Sears, townhall.com, 6/6/06

LIBERALS: We must be wary of those who insist they support the troops yet are eager to believe the worst about them before we have even heard their side of the story. -- David Limbaugh, townhall.com, 6/6/06

VALUES: The falling birth rates that are fueling the welfare crisis, ... are symptomatic of a deeper crisis in beliefs and attitudes -- a crisis involving changes in the meanings and values that people attribute to aging and mortality, sex and procreation, marriage, gender, parenthood, relations among the generations,and life itself. -- Mary Ann Glendon, "Principled Immigration," opinionjournal.com, 5/31/06