n a t b s

“Maine is one of the most secular states in the nation, it’s socially liberal, they had a three-year head start to build their organization and they outspent us two to one. If they can’t win there, it really does tell you the majority of Americans are not on board with this gay marriage thing.” -Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for discrimination Marriage [nyt]

A majority of Americans are not on board with “this gay marriage thing?” Guess what?  I don’t care. The majority of American’s tend to be complete morons when it comes to most issues. And I can live with that because that’s democracy. However, on certain issues they’re just wrong. That quote above might as well say “the majority of Americans aren’t on board with this integration thing” or “aren’t on board with this abolition thing.” My point, is that when it comes to certain moral issues, ie the oppression of certain groups, I don’t really care if the majority of Americans are bigoted, we need to do the right thing. Hopefully the courts will do what’s right.

I guess it can be tricky to decided what’s right and what’s not.  But I think the golden rule is really the way to determine that, and also the declaration of independence “all men are created equal.”  Basic equality is already codified into our law anyway, it’s called the equal protection clause. So I think all these bans on gay marriage are already illegal. There is a guy taking this case to the supreme court, and ironically it’s the same man who represented Bush in Bush v Gore. So hopefully the court will do what’s right so these people can get on with their lives, and we’ll let the bigots make peace with gay marriage on their own time. It’s not fair to the homosexual community to tell them to keep waiting, eventually the bigots will see the light. Fuck that, we can’t sit back and let bigots control our country. Freedom should not include the freedom to oppress.

[Note(9/01/09): Unfinished and past it's prime, but what the hell, why let it fester in drafts forever?]

Presidential historian Bob Williams made an interesting discovery last week while doing some research on the 21st century, “I was reading about the 2004 election, and I discoved something shocking: George W. Bush is actually still the president,” said Williams.  Yes, apparently the grossly unpopular president is still in charge of things.  In fact, “he will be president for another four months.”

When Bush “won” the election in 2000 it was so close and questionable, that when he started doing crazy shit we were extra critical of it.  Not that he didn’t deserve extreme critisism, but it was even easier to hate him and be angry becuase of the 2000 election.  Also the contrast with the prosperous ninites made it easy to hate him.  On the other hand, the election of 2008 comes right after Bush’s reign and the psyoclogical mindfuck he put us all through, so Obama’s presidency will probably look great by comparison and maybe cement the popularity of liberal ideals for a generation.  Yeah.

Growing up in the happy-go-lucky nineties, I learned a lot about the ideals of America, and I believed in those ideals; I was too naive not to.  Getting older and learning about our dubious history, and witnessing our present in the time of Bush, was a painful realization that we hardly live up to those ideals; that that stuff I used to believe as a kid was a myth not unlike Santa clause and the tooth fairy.  George Bush has been the president my entire adult life.  And now, the way I feel about the election of Barack Obama, is kind of like finding out Santa clause is real.  His rise and victory, more than his politics, means something.  It reminds us that America isn’t all talk.  We can put our money where our mouth is and do the right thing.  We can do something unprecedented and once again lead the way.  Yes America is an amazing country, this proves that once again.  And that’s why I felt so good last night, and why I feel so good now, and why so many people in the world do too.  I’ve never seen such joy and jubilation over a presidential election, people were literally dancing in the streets all over the world.  And yes, he’s black, and this country was founded on slavery, and 40 years ago they didn’t have equal rights, and yes that is amazing and wonderful.  It hit me right after they announced it, even though I knew it was going to happen, I didn’t feel it until it was official.  About, 11:02 I’d say, I started to cry.  It was a beautiful night.  Maybe one of the happiest the world has ever known.  We have the hope of a new beginning.

Also, for the first time in my lifetime I can say these words without sarcasm: America, fuck yeah!