Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Jamie Raskin, who made us proud earlier this year by standing up to a Christian Rightist in the Maryland state legislature -- upset an entrenched incumbent Maryland state senator in the Democratic primary yesterday:

MD Senate Dist. 20
Ida Ruben ((D))        3,589    33%    
Jamie Raskin ((D))    7,412    67%

During a hearing in March on a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban same sex marriage, Raskin responded to an assertion by State Sen. Nancy Jacobs' that marriage is a biblical principle and that it is soley between a man and a woman:

"People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution. They don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

Raskin, a professor of constitutional law at American University in Washington, DC, showed that being a Democrat can mean standing-up to the religious right; standing firm in support of marriage equality; and running an authentic grassroots campaign that engages the citizens instead of merely talking at them via expensive television ads.

The religious right has gained substantial political power in the U.S. primarily through old fashioned political organizing and electoral politics. During this period, Democrats whose values support religious freedom and separation of church and state, have careened between sputtering denunciations of "religious political extremists" and pandering to conservative "values voters."

Jamie Raskin demonstrated that you can stand up for the values of the Constitution of the United States and the rights of fellow citizens  -- and win elections -- not despite your stands, but because of them.