Political
Hiya! Some of you may be surprised to find that I'm somewhat "political". I mean, I'm not a politics junkie and I usually prefer that people "just get along" and I'm definitely not a fundamentalist of any stripe, but when I graduated from high school, I sorta came to the conclusion that an educated, conscientious citizen should be at least somewhat politically aware and vote. Now I don't get up on Sundays to watch Meet the Press or have CSPAN on much, but I do follow a few politics websites and of course watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. I try hard to never be any particular party's toady; I form my own opinions and will criticize both sides of the aisle when appropriate.
It doesn't take much to stay informed enough to have a well-researched opinion and to vote, but it's so frustrating that both the media and politicians often want (or at least gleefully profit from) the voters to stay relatively uninformed. A recent CNN article miffed me (CNN isn't always the most unbiased although it claims to be). The leading sentence of the news (not editorial) article was something along the lines of 'In election year gambit, Democrats try to cater to their base by increasing the minimum wage'. First, this is obviously a biased viewpoint (what political idiot would court poor people who have the worst voting records as a base) in addition to being incorrect. Unlike Republicans and their anti-gay marriage federal ammendment which only comes to a vote in election years, Democrats have brought a bill for a cost-of-living increase to the minimum wage every year for the last 9 (and lost every time in a typically party-line vote). It does take some work to understand some issues and have an opinion on the issue, but I think it's worth it; then you don't have to rely solely on the "unbiased" articles on CNN and such.
Why bring this up now? Well, it's pride month coming to a close now and I'm catching up on my magazines and just thinking of where we, gays, are in the US today. It's still a particularly sad situation. Greg and I have enormous odds to overcome just to adopt (in the states where it's still legal) a kid; we certainly can't get married (unless we move to one particular state). I recently bought a book to help us navigate the legal world of being in a couple but not getting the automatic thousands of benefits the government (and therefore businesses as well) gives to straights (yes, it's over a thousand benefits, they have actually been enumerated by several organizations). It's confusing and frustrating. Luckily there are Christian denominations where we could at least get married religiously and we do plan on doing this sometime in the "near" future, but because other denominations don't recognize the marriage the US and states gov't won't either.
What do I ask of you? Well, I want all my friends to just take a few minutes to think about it even if you don't want to do any (more) research on the issues and form some sort of opinion. Then, vote when appropriate. I mean, should the gov't pick which religion's marriages it recognizes like this? Are you ok with the discrimination against gays or at least the denying them of certain rights? Do you honestly believe we are poor influences & parents, sinful, or disordered?
Also, if you get bored today, you could take one of the many quizzes on the internet that will better let you know which political party best encompasses your views. Most people actually are pretty uninformed. A recent study (which I can't find now) showed that not only are people consistently misinformed about candidates' and parties' stances (not just don't know but think they know but are wrong) but that on a 0-10 point scale (0=conservative, 10=liberal) most people place themselves as more conservative than they actually are (based on their opinions on issues) by several points. Here are the first two quizzes I could find that look decent; honestly, I'm not thrilled by them since even with my little political knowledge I find them not well worded but I'm lazy.
http://selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=Polotiks
http://www.selectsmart.com/PRESIDENT/index2004.html
It doesn't take much to stay informed enough to have a well-researched opinion and to vote, but it's so frustrating that both the media and politicians often want (or at least gleefully profit from) the voters to stay relatively uninformed. A recent CNN article miffed me (CNN isn't always the most unbiased although it claims to be). The leading sentence of the news (not editorial) article was something along the lines of 'In election year gambit, Democrats try to cater to their base by increasing the minimum wage'. First, this is obviously a biased viewpoint (what political idiot would court poor people who have the worst voting records as a base) in addition to being incorrect. Unlike Republicans and their anti-gay marriage federal ammendment which only comes to a vote in election years, Democrats have brought a bill for a cost-of-living increase to the minimum wage every year for the last 9 (and lost every time in a typically party-line vote). It does take some work to understand some issues and have an opinion on the issue, but I think it's worth it; then you don't have to rely solely on the "unbiased" articles on CNN and such.
Why bring this up now? Well, it's pride month coming to a close now and I'm catching up on my magazines and just thinking of where we, gays, are in the US today. It's still a particularly sad situation. Greg and I have enormous odds to overcome just to adopt (in the states where it's still legal) a kid; we certainly can't get married (unless we move to one particular state). I recently bought a book to help us navigate the legal world of being in a couple but not getting the automatic thousands of benefits the government (and therefore businesses as well) gives to straights (yes, it's over a thousand benefits, they have actually been enumerated by several organizations). It's confusing and frustrating. Luckily there are Christian denominations where we could at least get married religiously and we do plan on doing this sometime in the "near" future, but because other denominations don't recognize the marriage the US and states gov't won't either.
What do I ask of you? Well, I want all my friends to just take a few minutes to think about it even if you don't want to do any (more) research on the issues and form some sort of opinion. Then, vote when appropriate. I mean, should the gov't pick which religion's marriages it recognizes like this? Are you ok with the discrimination against gays or at least the denying them of certain rights? Do you honestly believe we are poor influences & parents, sinful, or disordered?
Also, if you get bored today, you could take one of the many quizzes on the internet that will better let you know which political party best encompasses your views. Most people actually are pretty uninformed. A recent study (which I can't find now) showed that not only are people consistently misinformed about candidates' and parties' stances (not just don't know but think they know but are wrong) but that on a 0-10 point scale (0=conservative, 10=liberal) most people place themselves as more conservative than they actually are (based on their opinions on issues) by several points. Here are the first two quizzes I could find that look decent; honestly, I'm not thrilled by them since even with my little political knowledge I find them not well worded but I'm lazy.
http://selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=Polotiks
http://www.selectsmart.com/PRESIDENT/index2004.html