Still speechless...

Almost everything I read today suggested that scumbag half-wit won because many people liked his stand on "moral issues" - in other words, gay mariage and abortion.

Yes, because that's what's really wrong with the country. Forget the economy. Forget the mess in Iraq and the Middle East. Forget the Every Child Left Behind education strategy. Forget the corporate scandals, the constant threat of terrorism being held over your heads, and the failing social support system. None of that was important. What really mattered were those damned gays and loose women.

Spare me.

I had a whole long rant composed in my head this afternoon about opposition to gay marriage. What it boiled down to was this:

1. You think that a man marrying another man or a woman marrying another woman is a threat to the sanctity of marriage? Please. I've heard various numbers tossed around, but the divorce rate hovers somewhere around the 40% mark. And since only hetrosexuals can get married at this point - guess what? It's straight people who are messing up the institution as it stands. Not gays. Straights. Hetros.
   
2. How sad is it they would deny the happiness and satisfaction of a loving relationship between two consenting adults simply because you're squicked out by it? The world is a big huge place filled with depressing, mean things; it's cold and impersonal, and when you think about how much could be done to make it right and how little is actually done to make it right, it's almost overwhelming. So when you find someone to share your life with, whose happiness is tied to your own, who knows all your faults and imperfections and still wants to be with you more than anything else in the world, why deny that? You love whom you love, and calling that sinful and wrong is surely a greater evil than saying, "I now pronounce you, Adam and Steve, husband and husband - go forth and be happy!"

As for abortion, I'm pro-choice. I don't think I'd ever have one for philosophical reasons, but that doesn't mean I think other woman shouldn't. It's a personal decision that a woman has to make, and just because she has the option to abort doesn't mean she will choose it. The analogy I use is this:

You want ice cream. Nay, you need ice cream - maybe for personal reasons, maybe for medical reasons. But all you have is vanilla. Vanilla just doesn't cut it for whatever reason. So, there's chocolate - chocolate is good too, another valid option. Now you have a choice - vanilla or chocolate. Sometimes you need chocolate because otherwise terrible things will happen. But sometimes you just want ice cream - and having the choice between vanilla and chocolate doesn't mean you're going to chose chocolate. At least you have that choice.

I think that's all I want to say on this. I'm still going to be fuming, but I'll be moving on shortly.