Constitutional Grandstanding

Note from the LuapHacim, 11/14/2012: The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect my current beliefs and convictions. Even if they do, I would almost certainly express them in different words today. Time changes people, and I am not exempt. Nonetheless, because of its historical value, I will not modify or remove this post. It tells you (and me) something important about where I've been. Read on at your own peril.

The New York Daily News reports that

Republicans are raising a political lighting rod in the Senate today, proposing a constitutional ban on gay marriage that has no chance of passing.

How is this useful? It's not like they have nothing better to do -- New York's and Washington's Homeland Security funding got slashed last week, immigration is still a challenging topic, and the economy has had some recent hiccups.

The only reason to bring this to a vote now is the election that's coming up this fall. I'm sure some GOP politicians would love nothing better than to be able to print pamphlets about how their "anti-family, anti-marriage" opponents opposed a Constitutional amendment that would have protected the legitimacy of man/woman relationships in the eyes of the government.

That's not legislation; it's political NASCAR.