Sunday, November 09, 2008

Election results

Funny thing about a candidate I really do like actually winning --which has never happened for me before-- is the rather lost sense. Like a lot of people, I'm wondering... "Well, what NOW?" The answer turns out to be that I have a new West Wing show. Every day or so I get a snippet of an episode, as the new POTUS assembles his team and starts working on their plans for the end of January. The fact that it is all real is both exciting and frightening.

But this election was not without the familiar sense of defeat. I knew that Florida voters (my new neighbors) would pretty overwhelmingly vote to ban gay marriage, but I had hoped, even briefly expected, California voters to vote against such a ban. Alas, Prop 8 passed. Unsurprisingly, really, it appears the African American voters that poured out to vote with all that good "Yes We Can" passion... by and large decided that freedom is not for everybody. I do understand why that happens, but it's still so sad.

You already know that I make the mistake of reading comments on articles online. They are often so full of ignorance and hatred (and impossible spelling and punctuation), but I do find them fascinating for some reason. I can tell you, however, that sometimes I am honestly and pleasantly surprised by what I read. Here is an example, in a comment by somebody who calls himself Biggreyoldman on an article about Prop 8:

In a democracy 10 hungry cannibals can vote to eat the 11th cannibal. We live in a Consitutionaly limited Republic where the 11th cannibal has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You don't vote on eating the 11th cannibal.

Here with our Consitutional limited Republic you don't vote on the rights of people. Gays want the same EQUAL rights as straights, not special rights. They want to marry one of their choosing, two people want a legal union between consenting ADULTS, just of the same sex. It is their right and liberty to do so. You do not vote on what a person wants to do with their life with another consenting adult.

If you do not like gay marriage, don't marry another gay. One cannot vote to say what rights the gays have. It's voting to say you can eat the 11th cannibal. Laws that limit the Consitutional rights of others should be overturned by the courts. If they don't, we live in a mob rule where the mob dictates who can be eaten.

(from comments on the Detroit Free Press site)

Biggreyoldman

Just after reading this, Luther called up Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech, from back in March, given in Philadelphia. Neither of us had watched it in its entirety before. You can Youtube it yourself (you can get the full text on huffpost as well). It was beautiful --and interesting to note that it was given long before he was any kind of sure thing. We sat back and sipped our coffee and enjoyed a passionate presentation by a man who will now very likely spend the next four to eight years (please can we have eight? pretty please?) disappointing us, because how could he not?

He'll still be grand. And it's going to be very, very interesting watching it all unfold.

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