I’m sure it will surprise you, as much as it surprised me, to hear that Dick Cheney has become “the Voice of Compassion” for the Republican Party.

At a campaign rally, in Davenport, Iowa, on Tuesday, Cheney spoke supportively about gay relationships, saying “freedom means freedom for everyone,” when asked about his stand on gay marriage. CBS News (online), “Cheney Does His Own Thing,” August 25, 2004.

Frankly, it’s a very scary thing when you think about it. The Republican Party has gone so far right that Dick Cheney has become “the Voice of Compassion.” Whoa!

Tony Perkins of the inaptly-named “Family Research Council,” reacted to Cheney’s comments by assuring us in a video segment available at the CBS website that Cheney “has personal issues.”

I don’t think he meant by that what most people mean when they say those words, but if you listen closely, that actually is the import of his overall view. Nevertheless, he condescendingly states that he thinks there will be “lattitude for the Vice-President to express his personal feelings.” That lattitude extends for his “personal feelings,” he says, but “they shouldn’t affect policy.” Who would have thought that Republicans would make a disconnect between their personal moral choices and the policies they force upon the rest of us?

I never thought I could agree with Cheney about anything, but I definitely agree with this statement:

With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone … People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.

Anything less is a mockery of the Constitution. And beginning to dismantle the Constitution of the United States — the propose Marriage Amendment would constitute the first time fundamental rights were amended out of existence — just because a particular religion doesn’t approve, would be a mortal blow to the country founded over 200 years ago on this continent. This then-new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all humanity was “created equal” would cease to exist as conceived.

Frankly, I hate to use the word “nutcase” to describe those pushing this idea. But what else would you call the people who purport to worship the man of John 8.

The Jews — and the early Christians were primarily Jews — did not force their beliefs on others. Jesus himself said, “No one comes to the father, but by me.” And they are called, not brow-beaten, not coerced, not forced. As a matter of fact, if you look at ancient history, it was the heathen who could not tolerate the fact that others did not worship their gods and follow their rules.

Hmmm . . . maybe that explains it.

Interestingly, I’ve been working on an article I hope to have done in a day or two concerning another issue that was tangentially raised in the CBS article, but is of significant impact with respect to this controversy. In the next couple of days, look for a discussion here of “activist judges” and the landmark case from the founding of our country and its judicial system: Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1 Cranch) (1803).