Lou Dobbs (CNN): Gay marriage ban amendment is sheer nonsense

NEW YORK (CNN) -- President Bush this week urged Congress to pass a
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, at a time when the
United States faces some of the greatest challenges in our nation's
history.

So, logically, what could possibly better ensure the prosperous and
bright future of working men and women and their families than for the
Senate to work on a constitutional amendment that is guaranteed to
fail?

It's clear that cynical, patronizing White House political strategists
are trying to rally a conservative base that they believe is more base
than conservative. They're wrong on all counts.

We're fighting a war against radical Islamist terrorists with ongoing
campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, we're drowning in debt from our
growing record trade and budget deficits and we're watching our public
education system fail a generation of students. Congress has yet to
act on an effective solution to our illegal immigration crisis as
millions of illegal aliens flood our borders every year, and our
nation's borders and ports are still woefully insecure, four and a
half years after the September 11 attacks.

I believe most Americans are far more concerned about their declining
real wages and the lack of real creation of quality jobs than the
insulting insertion of wedge issues into the national dialogue and
political agenda.

But President Bush and the Senate have decided they should take up a
constitutional ban of gay marriage. Polls tell us most of us oppose
gay marriage. Those same polls are also shouting to our elected
representatives in Washington that we want real leadership and real
solutions to real problems.

The president and the Senate's Republican leadership are now claiming
that an amendment to our Constitution is necessary to save the
American family. No matter how you feel about the issue, and many of
us feel deeply, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is
utter and complete nonsense. It's an insult to the intelligence of
every voter, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative.

The president and the Senate are focusing on one of the few reasons
that has not been proven to cause divorce. They instead should look to
financial hardships, and the lack of communication about family
finances. The median family income is stagnating while gasoline costs
and higher interest rates are eating up the family budget.

Nor is the Senate looking at the national tragedy of out-of-wedlock
births: In seven states, more than 40 percent of our children are born
out of wedlock. Nationally, more than one out of three of our children
are born to unmarried parents.

Both political parties love to excite and enliven their so-called
"bases" by focusing on wedge issues like gay marriage, abortion, gun
control, school prayer and flag burning. Both the Republicans and
Democrats raise these issues to distract and divert public attention
from the pressing issues that affect our way of life and our nation's
future.

Are these wedge issues really how Congress should be spending its
time, especially given how little time politicians spend in
Washington, D.C., these days? I'd rather see our 535 elected
representatives and this president use their time to combat poverty,
fix our crumbling schools, secure our broken borders and ports and
hold employers accountable for hiring illegal aliens. And like
millions of Americans, I am desperate for a resolution to our wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

How can we tolerate elected officials who press wedge issues when 37
million people in the United States live in poverty, one in every
eight Americans? Almost 18 percent of children under the age of 18
live in poverty -- 13 million children.

Nearly 46 million people live without health insurance, about 16
percent of the population, a number that has risen by 6 million since
2000. More than one in 10 children are uninsured, and one-quarter of
people with incomes below $25,000 also lack any health insurance.

College costs are skyrocketing. There's been a 40 percent jump
(inflation-adjusted) in tuition and fees at public four-year colleges
and universities over the past five years, according to the College
Board. The costs for brand-name prescription drugs have also increased
twice as fast as the rate of inflation. In fact, over the past six
years, the average rise in the price of brand-name drugs is 40
percent, according to the AARP.

But while these increases in the price of the basics make it harder
for hard-working men and women to make ends meet, the president and
Congress would rather drive wedge issues than work toward real
solutions.

I wonder if the president's political advisers know just how
ill-advised and smarmy this wedge issue looks to the millions of us
who want solutions to the critical, urgent problems facing this
nation. Worse, I wonder if they even care.