Written on Wednesday, November 5th 2008
First diary, so please be gentle
Last night I wept.
At 10 PM central time, the networks called the presidential election for Barack Obama. I was hopeful since Iowa, confident for a month, and certain when Ohio was called. But even though I was positive that it was going to happen, the second it was called I leapt in the air, opened a bottle of champagne, My eyes were starting to well up with tears. I was so excited, I had voted for the next president for the first time in my life. I voted for someone that I do believe in, even though we do have some differences on some policies. I had witnessed this nation, with such a sordid and bloody past, elect someone with an African ancestry president. While I love this nation, I felt so much pride in the realization of how far we have come.
But as the people in this nation lifted me up, instantly some of them where there to pull me back down.
Four months ago, civil rights took another step forward when the California Supreme Court said it is not in keeping with the ideal of this nation if citizens are denied the rights afforded to other citizens because of how they were born. Gay Californians were told they had the same right to marry that their straight counterparts had.
But as too many in this great nation's history have done, some were aghast that their world was changing. So of course they sought to strip their fellow citizens of their new found rights. In this moment the seed was planted for the horrendous Prop 8. The rights of our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, parents, neighbors, and loved ones were at stake.
So as President-Elect Obama spoke to a nation entering a new age, we begin to see that the previous one was still eating away at what we are supposed to be.
Prop 8 won. For the first time in the Gay marriage debate, citizens of a state voted to strip their fellow citizens of a right. So in this historical moment, a moment I had worked and prayed for over the last two years, all I could think of were the people who love each other and were having their lives ripped apart by those next door. How could this happen?
This race didn't come cheap. Over 70 million was poured into it. A lot of 'Hollywood Liberals' put large donations in to protect the rights of those around them. That and people who cared about their rights and the rights of those around them. So who gave to the yes on hate movement? Well money came pouring in from Utah and the LDS church. After all 'traditional' marriage should be protected by a religion that had forced polygamy on young girls in its founding tenants.
What if this was how we reacted when rights were given to the oppressed over the ages?
The Magna Carta is signed, giving the king the authority to kill anyone who questions their imprisonment.
Worried that the original design of the constitution was flawed, the 12th amendment is passed. It makes the state executives to be decided by the state legislatures. Worried that this doesn't go far enough, the 17th is later passed making the seats in the House voted only by the local party bosses.
What if the Corwin Amendment was passed in 1861? After all, it may have kept the nation from the bloodshed of the next four years. All we had to do was continue the bloodshed of the previous 300. But that was just negro blood, it wasn't that of the white men.
Since the 'evils' in society continued years after the 18th amendment banned alcohol, a new one is passed. This one bans dancing. When that doesn't work, public playing of 'non-American' music is banned. (Anyone can look at prohibition to see what happens to amendments that strip people of their rights)
In response to the suffrage movement, the 19th amendment strips women of the basic constitution rights. They are to be counted as 3/5ths of a person now, the same as the negros.
The 23rd amendment is passed. For years the citizens in the nation's capital had no say in the Presidential election, it became obvious that they were not really citizens and had their rights as citizens stripped.
Was this a reaction to justices abusing their powers? What if in response to Brown vs. Board of Education an amendment was added saying that a new amendment should be added undoing the case? Or Gideon vs. Wainwright?
Or the best example, Loving vs Virginia. The Supreme Court overturned Virginia's anti-miscegenation law. This was an attack on years of what was seen as 'traditional marriage'. It was unpopular with large portions of the public. It was said that it would weaken other relationships. It would poison the youth. This could only be stopped by passing an amendment overriding the case. We protect what has been. And whites and blacks cannot marry.
There is a reason the judicial is one of the main branches in our government. They are vital. And the simple fact is, they can usually make the hard and unpopular decisions that the executive and legislative can't. But we remove these powers by mob law. And let's be honest, that's what this was. It was a majority attacking a minority and subjecting them. It's cruel, it's disturbing, and it is sadly American.
So where is our nation at in the world? Are we the shinning city on the hill? Here are two groups of nations. The first includes Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, and Australia. The second includes Russia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Syria. Which do you want to be associated with. Because of the mob rule, we in the US are being closer to the later group than the first one. How can this not make anyone who loves liberty weep? As a skinny guy from Illinois begins the process to assume the presidency, it is poignant to remember the words of the first president who fit this description, Abraham Lincoln:
"When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy ."
As we try to step forward as a nation, it is sad that those that should be standing with us try to knock us down. All we can do is plant our feet and brace for impact. And if we get knocked back or down, we need to get up and push forward. We can prevail in this. We can win in this.
I wept last night twice. I will cherish the first tears for the rest of my life for what out country can be. The second I will remember as a sad statement on what we can devolve into. May we live up to the dream of America, and not fall into a nightmare of it.
I wept last night.