The PBS NewsHour hosted a panel discussion on Thursday night on the controversy over religious freedom in Indiana. To their credit, PBS brought on a Baptist minister, Tim Overton, to speak for Christians who are upset at the current liberal trend. Micheline Maynard, director of the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University, presented how business is now signing up with the Left on cultural issues.
But National Journal correspondent Ron Brownstein pushed hard on the politics -- on how Republicans are going to suffer as “we expand the circle equality. That is the American story...there’s no reversing that.”
GWEN IFILL: And, finally, Ron Brownstein, how do you square the circle? If you’re a politician and you’re trying to figure out how to navigate these treacherous waters, how do they do that?
RON BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I think that what we just heard is really the principle. I think Americans do believe in religious liberty, but they do not believe that extends to the point of denying equal treatment to all Americans. That is an inexorable current. The single most, I think, consistent trend in our views of kind of social relations in this country is, we expand the circle of equality.
IFILL: Okay.
BROWNSTEIN: That is the American story. It is now inexorably happening for same-sex couples. And I think there’s no reversing that. And to the extent any political party or politician seems to be standing in the way of that, ultimately, I do not think that position can stand.
Brownstein announced that Democrats are now comfortable they represent the “majority of the country” on gay issues and immigration:
IFILL: And, Ron Brownstein, we saw this also play out, this very same kind of business-religious axis, political axis, play out in Arkansas as well, two Republican governors caught up in the heart of this.
What were the ripples, and were they to be expected?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think what we’re seeing is really remarkable. I started covering politics in the 1980s. And in that era, it was Republicans who consistently tried to escalate, instigate cultural collisions, confident that they had the winning hand, and that emphasizing these issues would fracture the Democratic coalition.
Well, you fast-forward through 20 years of changing cultural attitudes and changing underlying demographics, and on most of these questions, whether it is access to employer-provided contraception or gay rights or gay marriage or immigration, it is Democrats who are now confident that they represent the majority of the country. And they are the ones who I think are most confident forcing these issues to a head. And I think the retreat that we saw in Arkansas and Indiana is really emblematic of that.
He explained Republicans are sort of doomed: “There’s no question about where the underlying current in society is moving. The challenge Republicans have, that we saw figures like Mike Pence struggle with and ultimately fail with this week, was trying to navigate between that changing center of public opinion and the views of their own base. So, I think it is going to be a challenge for all of the Republican presidential candidates in 2016.”
