Schubert Flint Public Affairs has been hired to run the Yes on Prop. 8 (“Protect Marriage”) initiative. If you’ve happened to notice the names Jennifer Kerns, Frank Schubert, or Jeff Flint in media coverage of California’s Proposition 8 initiative, that would be because they all work for Schubert Flint.
After the break, I’ve posted an invitation from Schubert Flint Public Affairs to join them for an Open House on August 14th to celebrate the opening of their new Irvine office.
For reasons of my own (also posted after the break), my initial impulse when I saw this invitation was not to RSVP, but rather, to wonder if some other response might not be more appropriate for such an event? What would you suggest?
If you happen to be familiar with my diaries from the past month, you’d know that I have some issues with churches that pay Republican PR flacks, like Schubert Flint, to manage initiative campaigns. While the rank-and-file church membership is led to believe that such campaigns are being fought in order to protect ‘traditional’ values, the political operatives cashing the church’s paychecks are mostly interested in the benefits that such campaigns bring to the GOP and themselves.
The chronicles of my frustration at church association with the likes of Schubert Flint span an arc from “initial disappointment with my former church for once again backing the wrong side in a civil rights struggle” to “complete bewilderment at how the church squares their ostensibly ‘politically neutral’ purpose of accomplishing God’s work with their generous financial support of a servant of Mammon like Schubert Flint.” In any case, it’s an arc that should give you some idea of where I’m coming from in all this (executive summaries in parentheses):
Mormons enter Calif. marriage fight
(Mormons arguing for ‘traditional’ marriage? Good luck with that.)
An invitation to show up or walk out on June 29th
(Don’t Mormons have anything better to do than wage losing political battles from the pulpit?)
Meet Rameumptom, Inc: Schubert-Flint
(“Yes on 8” is being sold by the same folks who sold us the Iraq war.)
The Prop 8 ATM: A Christmas Carol
(And no matter the issue, they’ll keep on selling as long as it keeps on paying off for them.)
Googling Gay Marriage: Putting a Fork in Prop 8
(Jeff Flint is a real piece of work. End of story.)
In any case, enough of my rehashing, here’s the invite:
Take a look. Note the time, date, and location. And let me know what you think.
While you’re thinking, I’m gonna ramble on a bit more before kicking back and looking forward to your input.
I was raised LDS (Mormon), served a two-year mission for the church, but parted ways in my twenties due to the (seemingly) unbridgeable divide between my politics and that of the church my family joined five generations ago. That said, I harbor lingering attachments to the faith and community I once shared and enjoyed. And so, at times like these, I’m led to wonder anew at the failure of my erstwhile co-religionists to appreciate the utter necessity of respecting all Americans as equals before the law, especially as our Californian LDS brothers and sisters are also citizens of a country that (only after much struggle) now affords their religion the opportunity to thrive. At the very least, if they’re sincere in wanting to play a ‘conservative’ role in American society, I wish they’d pay more attention to fellow conservatives like Ward Connerly, who understand that:
For anyone to say that this is an issue for people who are gay and that this isn’t about civil rights is sadly mistaken. If you really believe in freedom and limited government, to be intellectually consistent and honest you have to oppose efforts of the majority to impose their will on people.
Considering my firm belief that gay Americans should have the freedom to marry, I’m curious what an intellectually consistent and honest response to Schubert Flint’s invitation might look like.
