The Supreme Court's hearing arguments today — right this moment I think because this message, despite what you may read, was posted at 8:32 AM — on the all-consuming topic of Gay Marriage. This is to say a bunch of attorneys are in a courtroom, selling their positions and engaging in banter with the various justices who had their minds made up long ago. Shortly, various reporters will try to predict the vote based on the way Scalia scratched his nose or some random syllable Roberts uttered. I hereby resolve not to place even a milligram of faith in such predictions. They've recently had about the same track record for accuracy as Dick Morris on a bad day. Dick Morris hasn't had a good day for predictions since 1974 when he ordered bacon-and-eggs in a Denny's in Atlanta, Georgia and predicted it would come with grits. Somewhere in my garage, I have a Magic 8-Ball that can make just as accurate a forecast of the highest court in the land. It'll probably say, "Ask again later, picture cloudy."
Even if we don't know where SCOTUS is heading, we know where the country's going. More and more former opponents of same-sex wedlock are "evolving" every day, rushing to get on the right side of history while there's still time…and — you notice? — nobody prominent ever evolves in the other direction. My (oft-mentioned here) cynical side suspects that the ones who are now open to Adam and Steve as a married couple are shifting because it's just not as valuable an issue as it once was for getting right-wing supporters fired-up to donate and get out the vote.
I have a few right-wing friends who are to the point of now arguing that allowing gays to marry one another is really the conservative position. I also have one or two who are still wrestling with how to walk back their former deeply-held positions…or maybe they're just afraid of what's next. They spent so much time telling us that Gay Marriage would lead to everyone marrying cocker spaniels that they have trouble turning loose of that. It's amazing how many Slippery Slopes aren't all that slippery when you actually get onto them.