What? No way. I live in mortal fear of being burned by an Onion headline, so I hope I've found a credible source on this.
I thought it would take longer. I thought it would be maybe in another 40 years - and that's based on my ballpark estimation of how long it will take for the old, rigid haters to die off. Because I've seen that young people get it - on so many levels, they get it. (If only they got it that you still have to show up to vote in the off years...)
But the Nevada GOP has taken two planks out of their platform today: their stance against marriage equality and their stance against abortion.
I thought for sure this was a practical joke.
And it's just Nevada. It's not like they've all come to their senses. No. That is too much to hope for in a single day.
But sure enough, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Nevada republicans have had the sense to drop two of their planks that 1) are egregious affronts to freedom and justice and that 2) alienate a lot of voters.
From the article:
Republicans who sat on the platform committee said they decided not to deal with social issues this year because the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts have weighed in and it doesn’t make sense for the party of “personal freedom” to have the government or the political party get involved in people’s personal lives.
“The issue was how can we back out of people’s personal lives,” said Dave Hockaday of Lyon County, who sat on the platform committee. “We need to focus on issues where we can have an impact.”
So, okay. They weren't exactly motivated by a desire for all people to have equal protection under the law (justice) and they weren't motivated by a recognition that reproductive choice is a vital element of a woman's life that only she should have jurisdiction over (respect). This does seem like a small victory, though it may still take 40 years to remove these planks from sea to shining sea.
But hey! It's a start. I hope they are setting an example for other state GOP conventions to follow.
The next thing you know they're realize that we have common ground on legislating and governing for the 99% too! Alright, I'm surely dreaming now.