election on my mind

etiquette says: never ask someone their age, how much money they make, or what their political affiliation is.

and there's good reason for it too. it gets everyone all riled up and people end up with hurt spirits. i have never been huge into politics, but i still wanted to at least bring up the subject because this is such a major voting year. we may have the first black president and there are some very heated debates on both sides over certain ballot measures--specifically proposition 8.

(beginning of rant.)

if there is one thing i've learned since moving to san clemente, it's that orange county is much more conservative than i thought. overall i think of california as much more liberal than the rest of the country and there are reasons for that. even though the governator is republican, we still voted a former movie star to be our governor. i don't think many other states would do that (and two of my previous roommates in san francisco were from ohio and they said that everyone from their hometown was in awe and almost found it funny when we voted him into office).

anyway, i just have to say that i don't care what political party you are affiliated with or whether you voted for obama or mccain, there is no reason that prop 8 should have been on the ballot at all. but since it was on the ballot, i can't seem to see why someone would vote to limit the rights of a certain group of people. why shouldn't gay people be allowed to get married? it should be their right. end of story. over the past few weeks there have been innumerable amounts of 'yes on 8' signs propped up in the median as i drive the short 2 miles to work. i smile on days when i know someone has taken down many of the signs i saw the previous day. and i am frustrated the next day when i see 200 new ones that have been put up. and when i say 200 signs in 2 miles, i'm serious. those signs were posted within feet of each other--one right after the next. and i don't know where all this manpower is coming from to post all those signs.

i can understand that there is an older generation that is set in their ways and may never change their point of view, but it's so difficult for me to fathom that there are members of the younger generation who are out on the street corner holding up 'yes on 8' signs. the intolerance is just incredible. it just makes me wonder why they care so much. they say they are protecting the 'traditional' marriage, but i see it as hate. how is someone in their 20s really going to be affected by allowing gay people to get married? the younger generation is supposed to see the bigger picture. we read history books about the civil rights movement and were supposed to have learned from previous mistakes. but the same thing is happening all over again. prop 8 would limit the rights of gay people and we're supposed to be a nation based on equality? how does that work?

to me marriage is not about a man and a woman. marriage is about a partnership and commitment to another person. if people claim to be protecting marriage they should be out on the street corners of las vegas campaigning to stop all the drunk people from getting married via drive through. when i was living in san francisco and mayor gavin newsom allowed gay marriages, you would read about these stories of gay couples who have been together for 20, 30, 40 years. and they will still be together for years to come whether or not prop 8 passes. but these individuals are committed to each other and should be able to call themselves spouse and spouse.

if you can't already tell, i voted no on prop 8. i apologize for the ranting, but you probably won't hear it from me again for at least another 4 years. and that's only if there's another issue like this.

(end of rant.)