The Carrie [Prejean] Effect
Old news, but I believe still worth discussing, considering the near-inevitability of government-backed recognition of Same-Sex unions as marriage. As a selectively-libertarian (lower case), Libertarian, I agree on individuals and communities living as they see fit with limited government intervention - and most importantly, without infringing on other individuals. As a result, I question the government sanctioning of all marriage partnerships as institutions; mutual CONTRACT makes a marriage (also video of author here).
That being said, I cautiously offer this interesting quote in an otherwise-predictable conservative/Republican piece in National Review;

"Cultures that can no longer perceive anything special about unions of a husband and wife will succumb to those that do [i.e., religious fundamentalists...like the author!]. The future belongs to civilizations that commit substantial energy to generativity...Once our government is committed to the idea that two men in a loving union are a marriage, there will be no retreat from that idea in the public square. Marriage will mean adults in love, not children in need."

The Culture Wars, like them or not, include battles on many fronts that no one wants to fight - but battles that are indeed pushed on all of us. Here, Islamicist regimes will clearly prevail amidst democracies with shrinking birthrates, utter lack of collective sense of purpose and mission (next post?), and any concept of family and society that spans generations and binds them, bridging the past and the future.