Staggered by the Pandering

I am absolutely horrified at the level to which President Bush and the Republican congress will take their desperate pandering for votes. Over the weekend Bush came out in favor of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman, and for three days this week, the Senate will debate the issue, which has virtually zero chance of passing. Instead of investing their valuable time and energy on dealing with immigration issues, or the war in Iraq, or the ballooning federal debt, they will be calling each other's moral convictions into question -- even though sexuality is probably the least of most senators' moral failings.

With all the words flying back and forth, however, I have yet to hear anyone precisely define the exact threat same-sex marriage poses to "traditional" marriage. Even ignoring that marriage is a matter left to the state, how could the possibility of Bob and I (or next door neighbors Gaby and Marianna) having a marriage license have any affect at all on the marriages of Joel and Alice or Richard and Jean across the street? Or on George and Laura's marriage?