Public opinion plays like a broken record. As the New Jersey bill to legalize same-sex marriage floats and flounders in the state legislature, I can’t help feeling that I’ve heard the same sound-bite arguments from supporters and detractors a million times. Groups with names like Garden State Equality and Progressive Change Committee Campaign decry empty promises of the pursuit of happiness and the withholding of individual rights. They yell and scream across the aisle at the Council on the American Family and the Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage, products of the 90s culture wars, which judging by the media clips, continue unabated.

Somewhere in all this mess, it’s become painfully apparent that the camps are talking past each other. In my perspective, advocates for same-sex marriage could go about advancing the message with a bit more tact. Although the proponents of marriage equality have made tremendous strides—achievements should be rightfully recognized and applauded—we must now engage socially-conservative opponents on their own turf. In addition to emphasizing the case for same-sex marriage in terms of individual freedom and rights, we must add community-oriented dimensions to the message. Progressives need to stress that same-sex marriage won’t erode institutions conservatives hold dear—in fact, it might very well strengthen them.

(Continued)

Luke Skywalker had Darth Vader, Michael Jordan had the entire NBA, and, in the darkest of days, Martin Luther King Jr. had the waning stars of Dixie.

Within recent memory, young American heroes have been defined by combat: They’ve engendered respect and admiration—especially from my generation—by bashing the bad guys.

(Continued)

At the height of the Gilded Age, the American sociologist Thorstein Veblen criticized the country for “conspicuous consumption”: the lavish and arbitrary spending on goods and service merely for the display of wealth.

Today, even in the midst of recession and what some would dub a second Gilded Age, we have our own arbitrary displays of wealth. But, more uniquely, our time in history is defined by “conspicuous compensation.” The amount that some people are paid—especially those who are paid with the country’s common cents—seems to lack all common sense.

(Continued)