It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Since then we’ve elected a new President, freed chickens from their crates in California, and then re-banned gay marriage, all of which I had some small part in. During the six weeks my office was open and manned we made approximate 20,000 dials to voters for Barack Obama, Yes on Proposition 2, and No on Proposition 8 and Proposition 4. Eight’s result was the biggest heart breaker. I made a short reappearance into politics for this job and I enjoyed every stressful sleepless minute of it.
I already miss my office and the completely fantastic and WONDERFUL people I met in it. I’ve experienced a lifetime of graciousness, generosity, dedication, diligence, and stress in about six weeks from so many involved in the campaign. I already miss it even though I don’t miss not sleeping. The beautiful things about working in politics is that the effects of you work are often tangible. You know how many people you’re talking to, what you’re saying, how they’re feeling, it’s a very hands on occupation. Furthermore its rewards are intrinsic and the gratification you feel everyday is unmatched by most jobs.
Before this post gets to lengthy, I’m back to being a civilian now, taking a break. I just went on vacation to Miami to visit family, thinking about the next step in my young career, and making jambalaya tomorrow for dinner. Life is good, I am still riding high from the victories we did succeed in.
As for my feelings on Proposition 8, there’s a lot for me to say about it and why I think it lost, but I will leave it with a few sentences. First, I think the ban on gay marriage is something that is temporary, whether it be the courts, or public opinoin. I feel that at the very least, in a few decades we’ll look back on this and say “Why did we ban this in the first place? Why are the private lives of others so important to us?”. To me personally, marriage is a means to create families, and families are the backbones of our society, providing the support and love needed for so many individuals. Anything that encourages families is only going to help society. Alienating groups from society just gives them ambivalence to the majority around them, and it’s just not constructive. Furthermore marriage is not going to change someone’s sexuality, just because they can’t get married doesn’t meant that my neighbors aren’t gay. Really, it doesn’t change that at all.
There are a lot of reasons on a political and strategic level as to why I think Prop 8 passed, but one of the biggest things is that I think a lot of people took California’s progressive image for granted. Because of that they stayed home, didn’t talk their neighbors, their friends and family, and tell them why. The grassroots movement needed bodies, they needed people on the phones, and knocking on doors, and the sense of urgency wasn’t there. I hope the next time around that this doesn’t happen, and that others don’t take their positions for granted. Things do not win or get defeated by themselves without a strong base of activist and supporters.
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