A Fool's Hope

If you ignore the 9/11 Responders heath care bill getting shot down, Google's and Verizon's shenanigans, and a whole bunch of other terrible political things, the past few days have been substantial steps forward. I'd say it even started a week or so ago, in California. Here's what you should know about me before going forward: I'm a registered Democrat, but I don't buy into every little thing they do. I have no problem dissenting from the party line. But I'm still a liberal. Mostly, because I also believe in a smaller government and less spending.

Proposition 19 will be on the California statewide ballot come November. What is Prop. 19? By golly, it's the Regulation, Control, and Taxation of Marijuana Act. It's about time a state put this up for a vote. California, along with the rest of the United States, is horribly in debt. That's no secret. But no one wants to pay more taxes. Legalizing pot is a way to produce revenue. If the rest of the country is anything like my group of friends, alcohol sales are enormous. But I know plenty of people who would much rather smoke a blunt, watch a movie, and talk then get hammered and vomit. I'm one of those people. It would mean revenue. It would mean more jobs, because someone has to farm it and sell it. It's a stimulated economy. On top of that, if marijuana is legalized, the drug cartels in Mexico start losing their power. Hopefully, that means less massacres along the border towns. But, it'd still be illegal under Federal law. Then it becomes a states' rights issue, and gets real attention. The key, though, is getting it passed in November. The joke is stoners are lazy and forgetful. Young too. But my age came out in full force to elect Barack Obama. When motivated, when the issue matters, we'll show up. And then we'll head to the local Mary Jane shop and spend our money on something that won't kill our livers or lungs.

Next up, New York City approved the building of an Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero. This in spite of politicians and people on both sides of the political divide coming out in opposition. The reasons given were varied: it'd be an insult to everyone who died in the attacks, we need to protect this country from the takeover of Muslims, it's too soon, etc. A friend has suggested that it'll be attacked by some crazies who believe in a different god. I agree with him, but I don't think that's reason enough to refuse it. Yes, there's a good chance some insane zealot will do something stupid and tragic. But are we really willing to deny freedom of religion for security? We've lost a ton of freedoms already under the guise of being more secure, but I don't buy it. Just because something MIGHT happen isn't enough. I stand by education as the way around a lot of these issues white Christians have with brown Muslims. The problem resides in the face that ignorance is paraded around by "politicians" and talking heads as something admirable. It's not, and the ignorant are bringing this country down by the head. No, Muslims have every right to build their community center wherever they want. Especially if the man behind it has a history of reaching out to people of other faiths in the spirit of bridging gaps. Frankly, for a country of immigrants, this shouldn't have been a big deal. Opponents are grouping nearly 1 billion people in with the extremists. As if Muslims didn't die in the attacks, which they did. More than 20 did, which is about .6%, which is about how many Americans identify as Muslim.

Back to California, a judge overturned Proposition 8, which barred same-sex couples from legally wedding. Nice, says I! Despite the United States' claim to equality and all the rest, it's always a struggle when a minority wants equal rights. It doesn't click though. There's no sense to it. The white majority likes to forget that whites weren't always the majority here. That once upon a time, we were immigrants, we were invaders to someone else's land. That 'Murica is made up of more than just white, straight, Christians men. And every once in a while, when another group wants to be treated the same, that majority gets in a tizzy. Watching pundits talk about it, it's gross. They take a moral high-ground, or say the courts are interfering, that marriage is a church thing, blah, blah, blah. It's all crap to hide bigotry, methinks. That may be generalizing, but what else am I to think? Gays, lesbians, and transsexuals are the other, the alien, the different. They're not "normal," even though homosexuality shows up in nature, making it NATURAL. These are the same arguments made against interracial marriage. They just replace one minority with another. Which is, I suppose, how bigotry works. But slowly, as per the usual, this new minority is getting equal rights. And that's awesome.

It's a fool's hope to think that things are getting better. Gay marriage will soon find itself in front of a conservative Supreme Court. California may find itself at odds with the federal government. And who knows what some sick individual will do to the Muslim community center (but I bet no one will call them a terrorist because they're white and God-fearing). But for right now, at least, things look better than they did last week.