Wednesday, November 05, 2008

A Few Post-Voting Notes

I'm mostly unpolitical here on the blog, but I had a few things I wanted to say now that California's propositions are counted. (Here's a good map if you want a breakdown within the state of what votes came from where.)

First of all, I'm disappointed that Prop 8 passed. I won't go into reasons since it's too late and Eric has already done a much better job of that than I could. So I'll just say I'm sorry to the people that this will affect, who I believe are mostly not the people who passed it. But this is how democracy goes sometimes, so we'll just have to take this decision for now and hope we'll get a chance to vote on it again someday.

I also wanted to say that I voted against Props 7 and 10, which didn't pass. This morning I heard someone on CNBC express surprise that California would shoot down alternative fuel bills, and they speculated that it was because gas prices had dropped so much over the last few months. To that I'd like to reply emphatically (and, I hope, accurately) that no we are not that shallow or shortsighted. We voted them down not because the issue is unimportant, but because it's so important that we need better plans to get it right. Believe me, I wanted to find an alternative energy proposition I could support.

As for the really big question of the day, I'm reminded of my first day in Romania when my host family made a point of confirming that I supported Obama. I'm looking forward to having a president I can be proud of, both at home and abroad, not to mention the first president ever that I voted for. And I'm proud of our country for finally being willing and able to achieve such a milestone. I know the euphoria will wear off, and Obama will turn out to be only human and have his faults, like everyone else. But there is still a lot of hope (and, I think, a reasonable probability) that he will at least be a very good human, and a good president.

And now that that's all over I'm left to wonder... will we ever see a gay president in my lifetime?

3 comments:

Coila said...

Believe me, I wanted to find an alternative energy proposition I could support.

Me too. I also helped vote down 7 and 10 for the same reasons. I wished one of them would turn out to be good, but neither of them were. Just because they said "alternative energy" in them doesn't mean they're going to *actually* help us achieve that goal of getting off our dependency on foreign oil.

I am very disappointed that prop 8 passed. I'd say more, but I'm not good at wording it right.

Lacey said...

Here's to having (and having voted for) a president we can be proud of at home and abroad. I have been asked by many locals here in Central America who I voted for, and they have all been relieved to know that I voted for Obama. :)

Anonymous said...

I, too, voted against Props. 7 and 10 and am frustrated the national media seems to be getting this story wrong. Here's the curious thing about having some insider knowledge about events and reading an inaccurate portrayal in the press: one must conclude that a possibly not insignificant proportion of news reports miss some fundamental point.