The election

I worked as a poll worker yesterday in the City of Orem. I worked at the Noah Webster Academy for precinct OR24 and OR45. I was a great experience and we were prepared for the rush of voter that was to flood through our doors on a constant basis throughout the day. We all had snacks at the ready so that we could eat them at our tables as to not disrupt the flow of the record-setting voter turnout that was to form lines of people around the block in the snow just waiting for their turn to show America their pride at doing their civil duty. Never happened. We got a small rush at the beginning of the day (there were people in line before the polls opened, and there continued to be a line until about 9:00). I have to admit that it is really hard to want to vote in a state whose electoral votes are a foregone conclusion before the race even starts. It is very difficult to be blue in a deep sea of red. I live in the reddest of red counties. The Democratic Party’s pro-choice platform seems to be the only issue that matters to the local electorate. Not the economy, not the war, not the complete failure of the current administration to handle any crisis, foreign or domestic, just abortion. My 11-year-old daughter came home from school and said that she was told that Obama killed babies. What a sad world we live in. So, thanks to our California friends and others across the nation for going to the polls in a state where your vote counts.

As we heard the election news, one of the other poll workers nearly cried. She thought that McCain/Palin could pull it off. I felt bad for her. I would have been saddened if the Bradley effect was realized and the election went the other way. But, I gotta tell ya, I am thrilled with the result. I can stand with Obama and say that I was against this war from the beginning. I can’t see how you can run a $10b/month war and not raise taxes. I am totally against taking away the rights of any people based of prejudices. Democracy is more than two cats and a mouse voting on what is for dinner, the rights of all people should be held sacred and protected.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

We the people have a god-given right to the pursuit of happiness. It is the duty of the government to protect these rights, not take them away. I believe in a Jeffersonian separation of church and state. I believe that a marriage affords certain legal rights, and therefore a marriage is a legal union. The spiritual union of marriage can, and is, determined by the church in which the wedding is conducted. Freedom of religion dictates that a church is free to conduct, or not conduct, whatever marriage it deems appropriate. Telling someone that because they are gay, they do not get the same rights as other feels like bigotry to me.

My sister was married a few years ago in Idaho by a rabbi to another woman. They have adopted a child and have had a child together (with the help of a donor, duh). Because their marriage is not legal, they are not afforded the same rights of parenthood that other married couples are. If something happens to either of them, the other will not automatically get custody of both the children. Their estate does not legally pass the same as it would for other couples. These are legal matters, and if all men are created equal, than why do they not have the same rights as other people?

-Dan