时事分析:美国大选中的社会问题
The Republican presidential race has been all about the economy. With sluggish economic growth and millions of Americans still out of work, the candidates for the nomination have been trying to portray themselves as the best person to fix it.
共和党总统候选人之争一向都是围绕经济话题展开。在经济增长乏力、数百万美国人依然面临失业的情况下，候选人努力将自身描绘成解决这一问题的最佳人选。
But social issues — which have energised Republican politics for decades — returned dramatically to the fore during the past week, with controversies involving contraception and abortion, religious freedom and same-sex marriage filling the airwaves.
但最近，数十年来为共和党的政治活动源源不断地注入活力的社会问题，重新被推到了风口浪尖，有关节育与堕胎、宗教自由以及同性婚姻的辩论，充斥着媒体的各个角落。
"For a substantial portion of the Republican base, this is the central issue," says Bill Galston, a respected political analyst at the Brookings Institution. "They are concerned about what they see as the cultural decay of America."
“对偏向共和党的很大一部分选民来说，这才是中心问题。”备受尊敬的布鲁金斯学会(Brookings Institution)政治问题分析师比尔•盖尔斯顿(Bill Galston)指出，“他们认为美国的文化正在衰败，并为此感到担心。”
The spotlight on social issues will probably benefit Rick Santorum, who won a clean sweep in the nomination contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Tuesday night.
对社会问题的关注，或许将令里克•桑托勒姆(Rick Santorum)从中受益。近日，在科罗拉多州、明尼苏达州和密苏里州的总统候选人提名之争中，桑托勒姆大获全胜。
A social conservative with hardline views — he opposes abortion in all cases, including rape and incest — he has focused his campaign efforts on Christian conservatives. He has been unapologetic about putting social issues front and centre, even in a time of economic strife.
作为一名立场强硬的社会保守派——他反对一切情况下的堕胎行为，包括因强奸和乱伦而导致的堕胎——桑托勒姆将竞选重点放到了信仰基督教的保守派选民身上。他没有辩解为何要将社会问题置于重中之重，即便是在经济领域矛盾重重的情况下。
But Mr Santorum, a Catholic with seven children, played down the role the contraception issue played in his victories. "I don't think it was a big issue at all," he told Fox News yesterday morning. "Our numbers were doing much better before this controversy came up."
不过，有着7个孩子的天主教徒桑托勒姆却认为，节育问题在帮助他获胜的过程中所起的作用其实没那么大。“我完全不认为这是一个重要的问题。”他向福克斯新闻(Fox News)表示，“这一争议出现前，我们的支持率要高得多。”
Still, analysts say the issues played to Mr Santorum's strengths with his party's conservative base.
尽管如此，分析人士表示，鉴于共和党所拥有的保守派选民基础，这些问题还是强化了桑托勒姆的优势。
Social issues have garnered new attention since the Obama administration ordered last week that employers — including Catholic hospitals and universities — must provide health insurance for contraception, including the morning-after pill.
奥巴马政府近日要求，各用人单位——包括天主教医院和大学——必须为节育提供医疗保险（包括紧急避孕药），此后，社会问题再次受到选民们的关注。
This comes after a decision, later reversed, by the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation to pull funding from Planned Parenthood, a service that provides contraception and abortions, after being put under pressure.
此前，由于受到压力，苏珊•G•科门(Susan G. Komen)乳腺癌基金会决定将资金从提供节育和堕胎服务的计划生育联盟(Planned Parenthood)中撤出。不过后来，该基金会取消了这一计划。
It also coincides with a federal court ruling declaring California's voter-supported ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.
与此同时，一家联邦法院作出裁决：同性恋婚姻禁令虽得到加州选民的支持，但却违反了宪法。
"When you couple social issues with broader concerns like freedom of conscience, it's bigger than a pure social issue," said Mike Franc of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank. "This is not just about contraception, it's about who gets to make core decisions."
“当你把社会问题与更广层面的担忧，比如良知的自由联系起来时，它就不只是一个纯粹的社会问题了。”保守派智库传统基金会(Heritage Foundation)的迈克•弗兰克(Mike Franc)表示，“这不仅是节育的问题，而是重大决定将由谁来作出的问题。”
Social conservatives have played a decisive role in presidential politics in recent decades. George W. Bush courted them assiduously in his successful campaigns in 2000 and 2004, while John McCain appeared less comfortable addressing their concerns in 2008.
最近几十年间，社会保守派在大选政治中扮演着关键性的角色。乔治•W•布什(George W. Bush)在2000年和2004年成功竞选的过程中，对他们不敢有丝毫怠慢，而约翰•麦凯恩(John McCain) 2008年竞选时，面对社会保守派提出的问题，应对起来则显得不那么从容。
The Tea Party's focus on the size of the US government and the budget put social issues in the background, but recent debate has rekindled passions.
茶党对美国政府及预算规模的关注，曾使社会问题淡出了人们的视线，而最近的争论又重新点燃了人们的兴趣。
Catholic leaders have responded angrily to the Obama administration's directive on providing contraception, saying it would force them to subsidise and offer a practice that goes against their beliefs.
针对奥巴马政府要求用人单位提供节育保险的指令，天主教领袖表达了强烈不满，他们表示，这将迫使他们进行补贴，并做出有违其宗教信仰的举动。
The issue is even more high-stakes given that Catholics are the biggest swing religious bloc of the electorate and routinely vote for the eventual president.
考虑到在全体选民中，天主教徒的人数在摇摆不定的信教人群中是最多的，而且他们投票支持的候选人常常会成功当选，鉴于这两点，上述问题就显得更加非同小可。
Seeing Mr Santorum gaining in the polls, Mitt Romney, the frontrunner for the nomination who has been accused of "flip-flopping" on social issues for the sake of political expediency, has also sought — unsuccessfully — to win over social conservatives this week.
看到桑托勒姆的民调支持率上升后，米特•罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)最近也试图赢得社会保守派的支持——但结果却事与愿违。有人指责，在共和党初选中领跑的罗姆尼出于政治便利的考虑，在社会问题上的态度总是“飘忽不定”。
Mr Romney has joined the chorus of criticism against the administration, calling its new regulations an attack on "religious liberty", apparently in an attempt to appeal both to the religious right and centrist Catholic voters.
罗姆尼也对政府提出了批评，称其新规是对“宗教自由”的践踏，这似乎是为了博取宗教右翼选民和中间派天主教选民的好感。
The administration's new directive was a real blow "to our friends in the Catholic faith," Mr Romney, who is a Mormon, said in Loveland, Colorado, this week.
身为摩门教徒的罗姆尼近日在科罗拉多州洛弗兰德表示，政府的新规大大伤害了“我们那些信仰天主教的朋友”。
“This kind of assault on religion will end if I'm president of the United States,” Mr Romney said.
他表示，“如果我是美国总统，宗教受到的这种伤害将会结束。”
译者:何黎
