Hosting the first-in-the-nation primary is a privilege and an awesome responsibility. The State holding the first-in-the-nation primary exerts tremendous influence over the nation’s choice for President. This means that it is not enough that the first-in-the-nation State be small enough to allow unknown and lesser funded candidates a realistic chance at breaking through. The first-in-the-nation State must also represent the nation’s ideals and values. Sadly, New Hampshire no longer does.
On defining issue after issue, New Hampshire has tacked way too far to the left. A majority of American’s believe that parents have an inalienable right to know if their minor daughters are having an abortion. Not in New Hampshire. Here, parents’ rights are not as important as abortion rights. A majority of Americans believe that marriage should remain the union of one man and one woman. Not in New Hampshire. Just today the Governor announced that he will sign into law a bill that, while titled civil unions, actually establishes same-sex marriage because it excludes opposite-sex couples. And while a majority of Americans have serious misgivings about the prosecution of the war in Iraq, New Hampshire attitudes are out there with the moveon.org crowd, judging from a resolution recently passed by the House calling for an immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq.
New Hampshire is no longer a barometer of the ideals and values of this nation. It has forfeited its claim on the first-in-the-nation primary.
