what the frell?

So Moore trouncing Kovach like the little overly conservative bug he is was nice. But the rest of this picture is looking pretty darn gloomy to me. More Bush to suffer through. And 11 states passed constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage (some even went so far as to ban same-sex civil unions and lay the foundation to prevent same-sex partners from receiving healthcare benefits—and that's just gay hate). Why don't they understand this isn't the solution? I'm sorry, but marriage is a religious institution that we've dressed up in the clothes of legality—the same way we've done with almost every moral issue. On the news this morning, they said that the biggest concern for voters was moral values (22 percent). And of that group, two-thirds voted for Bush. No surprise, I guess. But my point is that this election wasn't won because we're in the middle of the war. This election wasn't won by the candidate based on his strong economic record. This election was won by the man who was protecting moral values.

Moral values. What does that mean? It seems to mean anti-gay and anti-abortion. Now, I'm not going to touch the rightness or the wrongness of either of these issues, my point is that Kerry is being judged as immoral just because he's not fighting the conservative Christian cause to protect the sanctity of marriage and the unborn in government. And the passage of those 11 constitutional amendments show just how afraid we are. I grew up believing in a country that my mother explained was created by men of strong faith (read: Christian faith) who didn't want separation between church and state. I saw no divide between the moral, ethical, and legal.

Preventing same-sex partners isn't going to protect the sanctity of marriage. Straight couples are already running it into the ground on their own. The issue is simply a smokescreen. It takes our focus away from the true issues that degrade the value of marriage in this country, and, more important, it gives politicians an avenue of diversion away from the present issues. Why discuss the messy, harsh realities of a draw-out war, crumbling social security, patchy healthcare coverage, and failing schools when there are such polarizing, cut-and-dry issues as gay marriage and abortion?

I have no close to this rant, just simply frustration to end on.

Ugh.