Hillary Clinton used to be against same sex marriage, but now is for it.
What would it look like if we held her accountable for this change of opinion?

It might look like this:

Rand: Hillary, what was your stand on marriage equality in 2003?

Hillary Clinton: In 2003, I said,”I believe that marriage is not just a bond but a sacred bond between a man and a woman”. Back then, I felt that was true. And it seemed like it was true for America as well. As an American politician, I want to represent the people.

At the same time, I believed LGBT people in committed relationships had a right to live their lives freely and have the same rights as married couples. I favored granting them civil unions. And I wanted civil union partners to to have the same benefits that spouses had with employers, hospitals, inheritance and all other aspects of law.

Rand: What changed?

Hillary Clinton: Over the next decade, television showed more and more gay characters. And many gay individuals and couples “came out” and shared their stories. I listened to them, and realized I had been prejudiced.

I realized that I thought a person’s sex determined the sex of the person they should live with. But as I heard those Americans, I realized God had made them exactly as they were. It wasn’t their fault that they were attracted to people of the same sex. And they fell in love with people of the same sex just as so many of us fall in love with people of the opposite sex. And they want to commit their life to their partner.

If you commit your life to someone, if you love them through good times and bad and have a family together and grow old with them, isn’t that what marriage is about? If God makes two soul mates, and they find each other, isn’t that worthy of marriage?

Rand: And what about the biblical injunction about homosexual sex?

Hillary Clinton: That’s about sex. There’s nothing in the bible about people of the same sex living together, nor about loving each other and committing their lives to each other.

Rand: And you’re willing to oppose the American people over this?

Hillary Clinton: I’m a politician- I want both, to represent the people as well as to do what’s right, both constitutionally and morally. In 2001, Americans opposed gay marriage 57% to 35%. But many in America woke up to the same truth that I did, and now favor allowing gay marriage 55% to 39%!

I was, and still am, in favor of full rights for all Americans. In a sense, I didn’t change my mind, I enlarged my view. Marriage is a sacred bond. It can be between a man and a woman, or between any two adults. What’s important is that they love each other and commit to building a life together.

The real meaning of accountable

What’s the definition of accountable? It’s not “the ability to fire someone and hire someone else”, like we often think it is in politics. The dictionary says:
          Expected or required to account for one’s actions; answerable

When you’re accountable to your employer, yes, they can fire you. But when you change your position on something, or you don’t do what you said you’d do, you answer for it. You constantly report to your employer and they judge you.

What if we added this kind of accountability to politics? If we combine this with letting challengers report as well, and knowing what all Americans want on issues, we’d have a completely new kind of politics. And since it’ll be inexpensive, it’ll be a new kind of politics where money has much less influence.

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