joe scarborough and the american people

joe scarborough's television show is not one i usually watch but occasionally i see him and stick around for a few moments. during this past presidential election i got more of him and chris mathews than i normally would in a year, (msnbc got me w/ keith olbermann's show; countdown.) scarborough bugged me though i was hard-pressed to pinpoint what it was about him that bothered me. sure, he has an air of arrogance, that whole "i-know-this-and-why-the-rest-of-you-don't-get-it-is-beyond-me," attitude comes through but he is a bright guy so i guess it is to be expected. i had to look and listen closer to understand what really bothered me about joe scarborough. lo and behold, i finally figured it out.
scarborough talks about the republic and our democracy in such a way that he often refers to the majority as somehow manifestly right. he talks about the country's values being represented by the election of president bush or being evident by, for instance, all the gay marriage resistence being seen around the country in the form of legislation.
this is where joe scarborough fails and where we fail by not pointing out the error of his way.
some people have said bush's reelection represents the country's values despite the divide it made evident. i agree with this idea. i believe bush did get more votes and therefore, i believe his values more closely resemble the majority of american's values. however, the issue that gets lost herein is the idea of right and wrong. after all, people evolve.
what i get from scarborough is that since the majority thinks a certain way and has voted that way, they are right. otherwise, he does not talk about what is right and wrong.
what about gay marriage? most people's views on this subject stem from their religious beliefs. a guy like scarborough, when talking about the issue, will likely come on the air with some guy who works for an organization lobbying washington against these unions and let him explain why gay marriages represent the absolute undoing of society and america. then he may have someone else explain why we should all just lighten up a bit and let these marriages proceed. then, scarborough will jump in and tell you the trends and how many people have rallied against the idea and how this clearly represents the values of america and americans and slam dunk, these good people can't be wrong and this idea can't be right.
still, once you get away from the religious implications, it seems reasonable to allow gay people to wed each other. why not? what's the harm? the legal rights provided by marriage seem appropriate to any one person who is devoted to another.
i brought the subject up with a friend a few days ago and my friend expressed concern that if we allow gay people to wed each other today, tomorrow people will want to wed animals. from homosexuality to beastiality in one fell swoop. i said i thought we could go ahead and draw the line at same species. in fact i could not imagine it would be necessary to draw such a line. further, i don't think i want to legislate against a guy who wants marry his great dane. i merely want to recommend lots of counseling.
it seems some people think of marriage as a holy union ordained by god but as church and state are separate in the united states, it seems to me it is mostly a legal union which affects a person's taxes and/or rights relating to children. to that, i wonder, who wouldn't want to allow every citizen the same rights? perhaps i am being naive but i do not believe any faction in this country, including the so-called christian right, means to discriminate against another group because of a difference of opinion. it is my feeling some people just haven't thought about this enough and taken in enough information to form their best opinion of it yet.
joe scarborough does not help. rather than simply saying, here is where the people are, this is their values and that is that, he should be saying, here is where the people are and since this issue represents such a great division among americans, let us look at what is right and wrong about it. i am not going to be watching scarborough anyway but i still think the public would be better served by an effort to educate rather than one that accepts the status quo as some new age divine right of kings.