I hate politics

[spatch]

There's some rabidly conservative planes flying above us right now. Well, I'm not so sure about the planes' own political leanings, but the banners trailing behind them are inspired by today's legislative circus over at the State House. The banners point to an anti-gay marriage website which implores us to do away with "the judges who started all this trouble" by "imposing gay marriage on us."

Oh, all this trouble! How well we all know the plagues visited upon us when the first same-sex couples emerged from Cambridge City Hall with marriage licenses, how the economy collapsed, dogs started meowing, ice cream lost its flavor, and how God punished Massachusetts by, uh, flooding New Orleans, I don't know.

And sure, I know how tough it was when gay marriage was imposed on me. What a surprise it was to wake up that day and hear that the state was imposing one on me, compliments of Judges Wossname and Whoever. (I mean, sure, Rick's nice and all, great sense of humor and he always makes sure to tivo Gilmore Girls, but golly this is not what I wanted.)

All hyperbole aside, what really galls me is that the only reason why such a stink is being made is because it's an election year. Gotta keep our partisan status quo! The basic freedoms of people who just want to live their lives with those they love are being toyed with simply because some politicians don't wanna give up their cushy ol' jobs unless it's a promotion, and will say anything to their constitchensee to stay in the game. Politics is for those who never matured beyond schoolyard bullying, who enjoy your typical pick-a-side-and-throw-rocks-at-the-other games. The whole "If you ain't for us you're agin us" crap. Witness the online genius who railed against Matt Amorello in the wake of his Big Dig mismanagement, calling him a "stubborn Dem hack." Oops, dude, the guy's a Republican. Just because Mitt Romney hates him doesn't automatically make him the Party You Despise. Way to jerk, knee. (I mean, I want Amorello out too, but not because he's affiliated with The Other Guys. I want him out because he's a tool. Being a tool transcends political affiliation.)

Oh hell. All this just disheartens me incredibly. Time to move to one's own island and declare a benevolent dictatorship or something.

Comments

[desultor.livejournal.com]

it's tough with socially liberal republicans, because the question is, are they really republican, or conservative? it used to be that the republicans were the ones advocating small spending and less government intervention, and that was synonymous with the term conservative. but lately, many conservatives have been waking up to the fact that the republican party has been (to some extent) hijacked by the religious right and by people who aren't conservative.

i had a friend who voted for bush in 2000, he defended himself by saying he was a fiscal conservative but a social liberal. i told him he was full of shit, because he had to realize that if you vote for the republican, you get all the republican's policies, not just the fiscal ones you want, but the social ones you say you don't agree with.

so i still respect the people who say they're conservatives that are appalled at what's happened to the republican party, and who will no longer vote along party lines. the important question, though, is are their loyalties to the republican, or conservative ideology.

[ron_newman]

it's not a straightforward Democrat/Republican issue. Here in Massachusetts, we have some Republicans who support gay marriage (for instance, Bill White in Somerville), and we have some Democrats who oppose it (like Vinnie Ciampa in Somerville).

[desultor.livejournal.com]

exactly my point, that it's no longer straight-up democrat or republican. :)

[muse0fire.livejournal.com]

It's different in Georgia, where I live (I'm formerly from Mass.) Here it goes almost straight down party lines - except for psychos like Zell Miller who claims to be a Democrat but is really a three headed alien.

In the south the Republicans use the issue to show how "godless" the Democrats are.

Forget about the fact that the marriage record for most of said Republicans is filled with multiple marriages, divorces, and adultery. Somehow that's still sacred because it's hetero marriage. Whatever.

[desultor.livejournal.com]

hm, okay, i think i misunderstood ron_newman's comment when i was replying to it. i was using "it's no longer straight-up democrat or republican" to mean more that people's political affiliation now is less likely to tell you their general beliefs because the title "republican" has moved away from the meaning of "conservative". i wasn't actually talking about gay marriage specifically. but now i realize that ron_newman was. oops!

i saw an article, or maybe it was just a quote, that i liked the other day, talking about "godless liberals" and ann coulter. it said, um hello, but didn't anyone remember that this country was founded on the principle that your religious beliefs were a matter of personal choice, and not coercion?

[ron_newman]

Massachusetts still has a remnant of Republicans whose ideology is basically lower taxes, fiscal restraint, and business-friendly policies. All of which are compatible with support for gay marriage. This probably is less true in other parts of the country.