Executive Director's Note: Wedge Issue
By Brad EricksonPoliticians know that certain hot-button issues can both divide an electorate and elicit passionate responses on either side. Both parties try to exploit this phenomenon to their advantage, "firing up the base" and drawing a clear line of demarcation between one side and the other. Wedge issues erase the middle ground and banish compromise. One is either for "marriage equality" or against it. On…