Here is something he wrote yesterday, which is related to his thoughts on the No on 8 California propostition. It is so good, I wanted to share.
Subject: bigotry cuts both ways
I typically don't crank these things out everyday, but this topic is perfectly juxtaposed with what I wrote yesterday. I couldn't resist taking 15 minutes. A friend of ours worked on (defeating) Proposition 8 in California, which is a measure on our ballot that, if passed, will officially define marriage as that between a Man and Woman only. So a YES vote would eliminate same-sex marriages in CA.
What I find incredible is not that this piece of crap is probably going to pass. We have a lot of rural parts and even more upper middle-class white suburbs in California and those groups have never been too fond of 'the gays.' So, as the Wall Street Journal article below explains, it's the religious fanatics (Mormons in this case), hicks, and uneducated, white, suburbanites against the city folk, book reading, elites with their college educations and world viewernesses. These battles are typical in every state over every issue...can the cities out vote the non-cities?
In Oregon it's Portland and Eugene against the rest of the state. In Missouri it's St. Louis and Kansas City against the rest of the state. In Pennsylvania it is Philly and Pittsburgh versus everybody else. This country isn't now and never has been divided by red states and blue states...it's divided by cities and non-cities. I attached the 2000 Presidential electoral map for good measure. See if you can pick out Oklahoma City in Oklahoma. See if you can pick out Las Vegas in Nevada. Washington: Seattle/Tacoma. Virginia: DC. I don't see red states and blue states, I see specs of blue in a sea of red in an election where there were more blue voters than red.
Take any state and look at who disagrees about what. It's usually pretty close overall and the winner is usually determined by the percentage of voters who live within a few miles of some sort of mass transit line.
The "Division in America" is not about the always Blue California against the always Red Texas and why do these people hate each other so much...It's about how I have no idea how much fun midnight possum hunts can be, and they have no idea why I pay $5 extra for the good nigiri sashimi. Both of us think the other guy is crazy even though we've never tried and have no intention of trying what the other does for fun. We both live in California. 60 miles apart.
I'm not qualified to dive deeper into a "why are we divided" discussion, I'm just pointing out that, contrary to what we are told, our deep divisions have nothing to do with what state we live in.
There is no better way to highlight how deep the divisions run than taking a closer look at this Proposition 8. Whether it passes or not will have no effect on common law partnerships and the ability of gay people to get the tax benefits or visit each other in the hospital...it's about what how we are going to define the term "marriage." The opponents of Prop 8 think sexual orientation should have no bearing on whether or not a couple can declare their union to the State. Those in favor of Prop 8, as Tina Fey put it,"believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers."
I'm in the minority on this one compared to the rest of the country. A large majority of American's don't believe gays should have the right to call "that thing they do to each other" marriage. It really is the last form of publicly accepted bigotry in this country. Racism is still quite prevalent, but if you're racist you're not allowed to talk about it publicly in most places without serious consequences. Just ask Don Imus.
What I find absolutely incredible is that Proposition 8 is most likely going to be pass because Team Obama has mobilized and registered so many minorities. The marginal "swing vote" on Prop 8 is the minority vote. Of categories, men, women, old, young, black, white, no "group" is more anti-gay than the African American community (see article below).
It just blows my mind. The new bigot movement, which tries to pass laws that distinguish one group of people as "lesser and undeserving of equal rights," is being supported most vigorously by the targets of the previous bigot movement.
It just blows my mind. The new bigot movement, which tries to pass laws that distinguish one group of people as "lesser and undeserving of equal rights," is being supported most vigorously by the targets of the previous bigot movement.
Is this as ironic as Governer Palin line-item-vetoing planned parenthood funding for unwed new mothers? I don't know. But doses of irony for everyone this year.
Here is a good article to read on the subject: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122463078466356397.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
