Capitalism and social progress? LMFAO. Next thing I know, AS will be suggesting that Corporations are 'rational actors' or some such.
One of the reasons that Jonathan Rauch is so pleasant to read is that I can almost always count on him, not only to get the numbers, but not to play fast and loose with them. Although just writing little blog-snippets, Andrew might want to look a little more closely at the HRC report that he thinks supports his general thesis (the one in quotes, that old GOP canard about free-markets making people free). I'm not going to go through what I found out, here, because it defeats the bandwagon effect that such reports are meant to engender, doesn't it? Oh, and, ... by the way, who else on AS's most-favored list is scoring 446 corporations or so every year, most at their request, besides the HRC, and making the results freely available?
USING THE ONE-DIMENSIONAL SCORECARD
Meanwhile, let's look at the non-HRC. What is their 'legislative record'? Well, so far we can tally up to the realizing-their-virtual-normality activists six states (6) with super-DOMA laws (AK, TX, OH, FL, MT, and ... VA!). Big step forward for the guys that AS lauds as "really fighting for gay rights", that. What a knock-out score! Eighteen (18) states with Constitutional Amendments. Thirty-three (33) other states with Statutes. Here's a map from the NGLTF (I wonder if they are dust bin material too?). Unfortunately, that map doesn't show the percentage of the total population now covered by official gay-discrimination laws ...
The SLDN, AS lauds as "real". Who couldn't love them? Men and women in uniform - be still my heart. They have been the leaders on their issue for obvious reasons for a long time now, and almost everyone I can see coordinates the issue with them, if not through them, HRC not excepted (bear in mind I have NO inside info., so ...). At the end of the day, there hasn't been any movement on the UCMJ or chance of it for the past ... 15 years? Besides, maybe its "romatical" that heterosexuals go off to war to protect their homosexual citizens at home ... LOL.
Anyway, one could play this "game" for a long while. I think AS is just trying to needle the HRC to reform or something, but it would be nice if he put it in terms of what policies he thinks they might adopt, rather than what seems to amount to an oddly inspired vendetta.
sullylink
