Democrats like to shoot things too

Tuesday saw some fairly significant political action going on in the country. Some of it I've heard far too much about, and some I haven't heard nearly enough. These should probably be separate posts, but here goes.

Enough wanking about the "rebuke on Obama's leadership" with the election of two governors in New Jersey and Virginia. Virginia was a red state that went blue because a lot of independents were swayed by Obama. Now he's struggling a bit on some issues, so those independent votes are wavering, and Bob McDonnell. Exit poles from the races in Virginia and NJ both said over half the voters still supporte the President, and that their actions only reflected their feelings about the local race. Two more Republican governors isn't a big deal, a bigger deal was the Congress getting another Democratic voice. That will make more of a national difference. Should Republican's be happy? Sure. Does this mean the country is going to throw Obama to the wolves?

Maybe. This segues into my second point.

I'm nominally a Democrat, but more are more lately I feel I'm only a Democrat because the Republicans are ruled by Christian Right Wing Hawks, and I hate those jerks. But I give them one bit of credit; they aren't afriad to take a position and stand by it. Obama has spent a year trying to negotiate with Republicans, holding out a hand and getting it slapped away again and again. Olympia Snow was one of the very few people who took that offered hand. Our culture is ADD, we want instant results and get mad quickly if our needs aren't met. Diplomacy takes time, people. It especially takes time when the other side won't meet you at the table. I admit that I am losing patience, too. If I had a majority in the Congress and Senate, I'd say "screw you guys, I'm passing this bill." I'm not an expert on political matters, but I'm interested in learning about them. Sometimes, I just want to be as pig headed as all the loonies you see on the news. I want to show up at a rally in support of the President wearing a gun. I want to make assassine statements like "Glenn Beck is in league with Al Quaeda, trying to get America to tear itself apart." I want to look at all the elderly protesters at town hall meetings holding "Obama = Hitler" and say "You want government out of health care? Great, you just lost all your Medicare and social security. Let the free market save your sad wrinkled ass."

Rights and Democracy. Welcome to point #3

The vote in California, and now in Maine, scares the hell out of me. When you put it down to public vote, there are more people who think gays shouldn't marry than those who do. If we turned it into a voting issue, gay marriage could be stripped away from every state in the country. It pissed me off to no end that people who say "Don't tread on me" and "don't tell me what to do" can turn right around and say "I'm telling you that you don't have the right to get married." Hypocrisy in the very same breath! Some people think marriage is something that can't be vote on, that it's a basic human right. More people don't. More people want to do whatever they want to do, but are also eager to keep others from doing what they want because "God says so." I wish we had records of what churches donated money to various political groups, like the National Organization for Marriage. I wish we could force chruches that got involved in political matters to pay taxes. When I'm really mad, I wish we lived in the Wild West again. In a world where the law held no sway, people could be their own law. If the government won't stick up for your rights, then you defend them with your own sweat and blood and guns. That arguments works across both parties, y'all.