Iowa caucus goers have chosen Mitt Romney, sort of, as the winner of the first-in-the nation voting for Election 2012. Rick Santorum nipped at his heels, just eight votes away. True, all this reveals a deep ideological split within the Republican Party (one we first highlighted in our report card released last week), but we hope this doesn’t also mean that civil liberties are coming in last.
Congressman Ron Paul has been a notable exception, With two GOP presidential debates this weekend and the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, Romney and Santorum’s track records on civil liberties leave each of them with a lot of questions to answer. The two men failed all seven categories on our report card.
Take marriage equality. Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, a Catholic Democrat, upped the ante this week when, in proposing to legalize marriage equality, she said: “I came to realize the religions can decide what they want to do, but it is not OK for the state to discriminate."
The same goes for abortion. While religious belief may lead to a definition of life beginning at conception, no candidate for political office can make this worldview the law of the land – and use it to increasingly restrict access to abortion and deny women the right to make choices about their bodies.
The Constitution requires that our government stay neutral and treat all of us equally.
Ron Paul’s third-place finish – a candidate who scores well on national security issues on our report card – is a sign that civil liberties remain on the mind of voters. But Paul has his constitutional problems as well. He received two torches on immigration, one torch on marriage equality, and none on reproductive choice. And deeply disturbing questions remain about his past newsletter writings.
This weekend in New Hampshire, the GOP presidential candidates will take the stage. There should be one over-arching question on all their minds: "If elected president, will I support every American's constitutional rights?" Right now, sadly, the answer to that question is too often "no."
