Rubio may genuinely reject the argument that his support for discriminatory laws makes him a bigot. But his stance, while it mirrors that of many older Republicans, is not in tune with the young men and women who will shape the party's future. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents under the age of 50, the Washington Post /ABC News Poll found that 52 percent favor marriage equality .
A recognition of that reality underpins at least some of the rethinking within the GOP. "The die is cast on this issue when you look at the percentage of younger voters who support gay marriage," says Steve Schmidt, who served as a senior adviser to Arizona Senator John McCain's Republican presidential run.
Schmidt signed the legal brief on behalf of marriage equality.
"I believe Republicans should re-examine the extent to which we are being defined by positions on issues that I don't believe are among our core values, and that put us at odds with what I expect will become over time, if not a consensus view, then the view of a substantial majority of voters," Schmidt has been arguing for some time now.
The veteran Republican strategist argues that "denying two consenting adults of the same sex the right to form a lawful union that is protected and respected by the state denies them two of the most basic natural rights affirmed in the preamble of our Declaration of Independence -- liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, I believe, gives the argument of same sex marriage proponents its moral force."
That's an old-school Republican position, one that Schmidt explains is rooted in "the national creed, what Lincoln called the inestimable jewel of American history." This, says Schmidt, is why he and so many other conservatives have decided to urge fellow Republicans "to respect every human being's rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness as much as they cherish their own."
Schmidt and his fellow Republican supporters of marriage equality are making a big leap away from the right-wing social conservatism that has defined the Republican Party in recent decades. But groups such as the Log Cabin Republicans argue that the move reconnects Republicans with a part of their past. More and more, those who would move the party away from rigid social conservatism argue, Republicans are coming to recognize that the party's first president was right when he wrote in 1859: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."
The Republican Party remains almost completely at odds with its original values on economic issues and a host of other concerns. It is far from the "Party of Lincoln" that it once was. But just as it has been proper to note the Republican devolution away from the best of its historic values, so it is reasonable to note any evidence of an evolution back toward the party's former self -- not merely because of what that suggests about the party's progress but because of what it says about the broader and better shifting of our national politics.
Republican positioning on voting rights is another story. Read Ari Berman's update on challenges to the Voting Rights Act.
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