(July 21, 2015 at 10:00 am)Yeauxleaux Wrote: I feel like that's a simplistic view
I would assume a majority of Americans either support gay marriage or are passive on the issue (meaning they don't really have an opinion either way and are not against it). However, you have to look at the people in power. You've got one of the two major political parties (The Republicans) vehemently opposing it and they hold so much power to veto the decision to allow gay marriage, regardless of what the average American thinks. The Christian right-wing holds a disproportionate amount of power in America, so even if they're a minority they hold a lot of political clout to have the greater say in matters. It's not so much about majority support, it's about who holds the power.
But who holds the power is determined by the majority. That is a representative democracy. It would seem to me what you are talking about is more when someone states one thing to a pollster in public and votes another in the privacy of the ballot box.
Sort of like saying if you ask people if they are racists nearly everyone will say they are not. Yet somehow, someway racism is alive and well in society. How can this be if no one is racists according to our public polls?