(no subject)
I woke up this morning thinking about Tuesday's election and the gay marriage Amendment, and I kind of came to my own conclusions on it.
I then got in my car to hear a Marquette legal professor on the radio talking about how the fine points of the amendment are going to be stuck in litigation for years now. I then got into my office to see DJ's post about how 275,000 Wisconsin citizens cast ballots for the ban on same-sex marriages but not for Republican Mark Green. These bits somewhat reinforced my conclusions...
1) I don't understand marriage being anything more than an agreement between two people who love each other. However, traditionally speaking it has some sort of "in the eyes of the Lord" definition that many Christians hold true. I live a non-practicing Christian life by principle, but the Xian definition of marriage is lost to me. This is not true for many people in Wisconsin, though.
2) LGBT culture is a minority, and is only tolerated at best by the status quo. While it may not be a matter of hate, it is still supported and understood on a very small level. Most people don't know even one gay person, or have any idea what it means to be “gay” beyond chicks that like licking clam or dudes that like taking it in the ass.
3) We, as friends and citizens of a large city, and prone to an affluent or artistic culture, live in a socially Liberal bubble. We experience and understand far more nuances of social and cultural varieties than the proud citizens of, for example, Tomah, WI. Madison is much like Milwaukee in that way. It makes sense to us, but might not make sense to the rest of the state.
4) Democrats re-gained the House and Senate in part by returning to traditional hard-working Democratic values. This really needed to happen. Democrats are traditionally religious and family-oriented, but believe in a socially responsible government and holding private entities to similar standards (amongst other core beliefs). Social Liberalism has always been a fringe institution in the Democratic Party, but it is my opinion that promotion of social responsibility breeds Social Liberalism. Conservative Media influences one to believe (Liberal = Democrat), but it's not always true and it's important to make that distinction.
So my conclusion is that when you consider EVERYTHING that happened on Tuesday, complaining or being heavily concerned about the same-sex marriage amendment passing by such a wide margin is kind of like getting 100% on a test and setting the class curve, but being totally disenfranchised by missing the extra-credit question.
Yes, it effects more than just same-sex partners but it was promoted otherwise and doesn't take an idiot to figure out what it was meant to accomplish. I agree it is vengeful, narrow and wrong that the American government defines a specifically cultural institution in writing, but I’m not surprised it went the way it did.
Details of the amendment are already being challenged in litigation and that will not end for years. Also, the right state leadership is now in place to make sure it doesn't go any further and/or could possibly be abolished in time. Finally, I have confidence in that our society as a whole knows better and it's only a matter of another decade before culture evolves to the point of laughing at it like we laugh at sodomy laws.
In other words, the extra credit question doesn't matter because what really matters was accomplished on Tuesday. Sure, the extra credit points are good but when you've passed the real test (sweeping official elections, taking over WI State Senate, taking House, taking US Senate, and making a big move towards real change in this country), one not worry about the details.
I then got in my car to hear a Marquette legal professor on the radio talking about how the fine points of the amendment are going to be stuck in litigation for years now. I then got into my office to see DJ's post about how 275,000 Wisconsin citizens cast ballots for the ban on same-sex marriages but not for Republican Mark Green. These bits somewhat reinforced my conclusions...
1) I don't understand marriage being anything more than an agreement between two people who love each other. However, traditionally speaking it has some sort of "in the eyes of the Lord" definition that many Christians hold true. I live a non-practicing Christian life by principle, but the Xian definition of marriage is lost to me. This is not true for many people in Wisconsin, though.
2) LGBT culture is a minority, and is only tolerated at best by the status quo. While it may not be a matter of hate, it is still supported and understood on a very small level. Most people don't know even one gay person, or have any idea what it means to be “gay” beyond chicks that like licking clam or dudes that like taking it in the ass.
3) We, as friends and citizens of a large city, and prone to an affluent or artistic culture, live in a socially Liberal bubble. We experience and understand far more nuances of social and cultural varieties than the proud citizens of, for example, Tomah, WI. Madison is much like Milwaukee in that way. It makes sense to us, but might not make sense to the rest of the state.
4) Democrats re-gained the House and Senate in part by returning to traditional hard-working Democratic values. This really needed to happen. Democrats are traditionally religious and family-oriented, but believe in a socially responsible government and holding private entities to similar standards (amongst other core beliefs). Social Liberalism has always been a fringe institution in the Democratic Party, but it is my opinion that promotion of social responsibility breeds Social Liberalism. Conservative Media influences one to believe (Liberal = Democrat), but it's not always true and it's important to make that distinction.
So my conclusion is that when you consider EVERYTHING that happened on Tuesday, complaining or being heavily concerned about the same-sex marriage amendment passing by such a wide margin is kind of like getting 100% on a test and setting the class curve, but being totally disenfranchised by missing the extra-credit question.
Yes, it effects more than just same-sex partners but it was promoted otherwise and doesn't take an idiot to figure out what it was meant to accomplish. I agree it is vengeful, narrow and wrong that the American government defines a specifically cultural institution in writing, but I’m not surprised it went the way it did.
Details of the amendment are already being challenged in litigation and that will not end for years. Also, the right state leadership is now in place to make sure it doesn't go any further and/or could possibly be abolished in time. Finally, I have confidence in that our society as a whole knows better and it's only a matter of another decade before culture evolves to the point of laughing at it like we laugh at sodomy laws.
In other words, the extra credit question doesn't matter because what really matters was accomplished on Tuesday. Sure, the extra credit points are good but when you've passed the real test (sweeping official elections, taking over WI State Senate, taking House, taking US Senate, and making a big move towards real change in this country), one not worry about the details.