How does this help us?

I'm still thinking about the Scene article on the gay marriage amendment. Seriously, how does thinking like what is described below help anyone?

"An enormous American flag drapes the back of the stage, flanked by big-screen monitors on each side, a trademark of Dobson events everywhere. The crowd stands and erupts into applause when asked, 'How many of you love America?' Many raise their arms above theirs heads and begin to sway as the blaring music resumes."

I wrote in my earlier post about how much humility and respect are lacking on the American public stage, and this quote is good evidence. I respect, yet disagree, with the opinions of people who support this amendment, but I don't think anyone involved "hates America." It's blatantly implied in the actions above that anyone who disagrees with banning gay marriage loathes this country.

I think that's a silly and disrespectful notion, and it's a big part of what bothers me about public debate on both sides of the political aisle. All this kind of activity is doing is preaching to the converted on either side, and it is stifling, if not destroying, constructive debate and discussion.

This quote from the article strikes me as ridiculous, too: "Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, informs the audience he has no intention of telling them how to vote, but urges them to keep their Christian values in mind when they go to the polls." Yeah, right.

I'm not naive enough to think that the amendment will fail, but I don't think any of the rest of this is doing anyone around here any good.