The following is an excerpt directly from President Bush's speech at the convention last night:

The story of America is the story of expanding liberty: an ever-widening circle, constantly growing to reach further and include more. Our nation's founding commitment is still our deepest commitment: In our world, and here at home, we will extend the frontiers of freedom.

It is certainly true that the story of America is one of expanding liberty, but I think it is profoundly ironic that the President would make that a theme in his speech when he and his party seem diametrically opposed to the trend—as least here in the U.S.

I would argue that expanding the definition of civil marriage to include same-sex unions stands is squarely in the tradition of expanding liberty. In contrast, the Republican party is making every effort to turn away from its own tradition of defending states rights to promote a constitutional amendment to prohibit such an expansion of liberty not only now but likely far into the future, i.e., until the proposed amendment could be repealed.

Same-sex marriage is certainly not the only example of this administration’s working to restrict or rollback the expansion of liberty. The Patriot Act and the handling of the prisoners in Guantanamo stand out, as well.

I’d love to get some counterexamples from any Bush supporters who might drop by.
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