Very happy, yet sad as well

Yesterday is a day I will remember forever. It is a day I will tell my future children about. Barack Obama, a brilliant African American senator from Illinois, was elected President of the United States. I am still in disbelief that the candidate I voted for won the election and that so many other voters helped Obama win his bid for the White House. This country really needs change after eight years of embarrassment from our executive branch and Obama is the man to help lead us to that change. I can't wait to see how the next four years go and to see Obama's plans in action.

On the flip side, proposition 8 banning same sex marriage passed, diminishing much of my joy from the results of this election. The passing of this proposition really saddens me because it proves that religion plays too large of a role in our society. Even though there is a separation of church and state, many voters relied on their religious beliefs when choosing yes on prop 8. I could never use religion or any other reason as a rationale for preventing two people who love each other from a civil marriage. G and I were married in a civil ceremony, so does that mean that our marriage is also something to be looked down upon? I just think that it is really selffish for people to vote to prevent something that does not affect their lives. Obviously homosexuality is not going away with the passing of this prop, so why worry so much about preventing this group of people from the pleasure of claiming a spouse? Some proponents claimed that gay marriage will be taught in school if the prop had failed, which is one of the biggest bullshit excuses I have heard of for bigotry. I was never taught about marriage in school, whether it be straight or gay, and sex ed only taught us about making babies, which is not a requirement of marriage. Of course, children will learn about homosexuality at some point in their lives, but what is the harm in that? I hope that one day people will realize how much their bigotry or religious convictions really harm others' desires to legally marry the person they love.

My vote has been solidified (not that it wasn't before)

Hurray for Halloween and the weekend hanging out around the corner. It has been a long and tiring week, even though I have not done anything out of my normal routine. I need to start going to bed earlier instead of watching the nightly news, because all the news ever reports about are the economy and election. I like to keep informed about what is going on in our country, but lately, the news just sounds like a broken record repeating the same information over and over again. I think next week will be a much more exciting time to watch the news as the election finally takes place and a winner is hopefully announced (no repeat of 2000 and the "hanging chads").

I watched part of Obama's commercial last night, which solidified my decision to vote for him. He is so eloquent and presidential when he speaks, unlike the current president who could benefit from speech classes. I was really impressed that Obama focused on the issues that are pressing in our country and showed examples of families that are barely surviving during our tough economic times. He did not once mention or attack McCain, which really pleased me because I am so sick of the smearing. Only 5 more days!!

Woo hoo! I just mailed my absentee ballot during my lunch break and a huge weight is off my shoulders! Now I will not feel as bad about throwing all of the political mail I have been receiving lately into the recycling bin and ignoring the advertisements on TV. When someone comes up to me preaching their side of an issue, I can now tell them I already voted and keep walking. It may have taken me two days to fill it out because reading about all of the propositions was giving me a headache, but I am so happy that I have voted. I believe that you can only truly complain about politics if you voted, unless citizenship or age factors are preventing you from voting.

Of course, G is cancelling out my vote for president, but as long as he votes, I guess it is okay. At least I was able to influence his decision on prop 8 after many nights of discussion. I always tease G that we are similar to Arnold and Maria, because we share the same anniversary (although they married several years before us) and our political views are the same. Sometimes I wish I had married someone with the same political ideals so we could actually speak with each other more about politics, but I am glad that I married someone who is not going to change their ideals because their partner does not like them. I just hope we do not confuse our future children too much. I am the product of a politically split household and I turned out okay :)

I usually do not like to publicize my feelings about politics very often because I am not into debates and confrontations, but I just had to post this picture I found. I guess this will explain what side of the fence I reside.