Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

I stopped singing the National Anthem after Bush Lite was re-elected in 2004. Where I used to stand proudly and sing the National Anthem at ball games and such, heck, I even performed it for local sports teams on a couple of occasions, I didn’t feel like I fit in with the whole American thing we had going on during the second term of the Bush Administration.

Last night’s victory for President-Elect Obama changed that feeling considerably last night. However, there is a bittersweet element to the news today: California’s apparent vote to constitutionally ban gay marriage kept my “good vibe” from going all the way to the finish line. Because of this there is still a part of me that feels like an outsider. I suppose as a loud and proud gay man I will always be an outsider. I won’t stand for being merely ‘tolerated’. I don’t even like the word ‘acceptance’; I don’t choose to accept heterosexual people, why should they choose to accept gay men and women? It’s just the way it is. I am who I am and I’m not going anywhere, getting any quieter or going on the “down low”. So I guess that makes me a bit of an outsider. I know that my personality and assorted quirks will also make me seem somewhat eccentric, but even eccentrics should be granted the same rights as everyone else. At least I’m in good company.

Don’t get me wrong, I am once again very excited about the future of our country. I believe our new President is able and willing to fix the mess that the last administration has created. Will it happen quickly? No. But it will happen. I have no doubt about that.

And I will once again proudly sing the National Anthem.

Thank you, America. We have reached the light at the end of a long, long tunnel.

Aside from the customer who called our call center today because “the Internet is sticky and jerky today” (that was an interesting call), work has been relatively stress free and quiet today. I guess everyone is focusing on the U.S. elections today. We have been following various news sources on the events as the day goes on. Earl and I will be voting tonight after work. I’m excited to see how long we have to wait and what my number in the big book of signatures will be. I hope it’s a high number. In 2004 I was number 384 at around 6:15 p.m. That’s not a very good turnout.

One of the comments I read on CNN or MSNBC intrigued me. A woman in Arkansas told the pollster or reporter that she based her vote on “national security.” The nebulous concept was her number one priority when it came to selecting her choice for President. Her vote went to McCain.

I have often said that I am wired very differently than most but I haven’t even considered “national security” as one of my bullet points in formulating my vote. The economy? Absolutely. Energy policy? Naturally. Gay rights? Of course. There’s a smattering of other subjects that I have considered as well but national security? No. And here’s why.

I am an American. I believe that at one time the United States of American was THE best place to live on the planet. Today I believe it is ONE of the best places to live. Our policies have been a little wonky during this last administration. The liberties that we so often tout as being wonderful are slowly being taken away from us, all in the name of national security. Granted, the events of 9/11 were horrifying. A lot of people died. But how many have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since? We can not live in fear for the rest of our existence because of that. We can’t be afraid of terrorists. We can’t be afraid of immigrants. We can’t be afraid of people that are different than the some concept of the “American way”. We just can’t. There are ‘bad guys’ everywhere, on both sides of our borders. And to fear these bad guys is unproductive.

The individual that lives in fear must lead a very sad existence. Bad things happen. Bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. This is what happens and that’s just a fact of life. I blame this fear on organised religion. “If you don’t do as I say you are going to hell and you are going to burn forever.” An all loving God, damning his own creation to eternity in hell. That doesn’t even make sense. Being a reincarnationist, I figure if you screw up this life you’re coming back to learn better lessons the next time. When I was a youngster I asked my mother what hell was. She told me she believed that THIS is it and explained why. I know that she was absolutely right.

Living in fear. So sad. And so unfortunate that you base your vote in this historical election on the fear that you’re being fed. “Vote for me or bad things will happen.” So unfortunate.

Don’t live in fear. Live full of hope. But most importantly, vote!

I don’t know if you have heard the news or not, but tomorrow there is a big election in the United States. There may have been something mentioned on the news. Not only are we voting in a new administration, but several key decisions are being made tomorrow as well.

I overheard someone say that they were still undecided and that they would like to hear what the candidates have to say tonight. Um, o.k. I think that if you haven’t decided your choice yet then you’re probably completely clueless or really dense, but by god it’s your right to vote and you should exercise that right.

Though the polls are currently showing this all going to Obama’s favor, I have to admit that I don’t put a lot of faith in polls. I know it’s all scientific and all that but I don’t completely buy into it. The only way we’ll know who is going to win is when the other guy concedes or the Supreme Court hands down another decision.

As a technology geek I have to say that I do not trust these electronic voting machines that do not print out a receipt for the voter. We’ve all seen the videos of the “vote jumping” on the touchscreen systems. I truly believe that’s just bad software decision and screen calibration; a malicious programmer would never make the vote jumping or false tallying so obvious. I would have no problem with electronic voting machines if the code (the program) was open source and available for all the world to review. Personal agendas would be irrelevant in that case; proprietary equipment and programming allows for personal agendas to become commonplace.

My vote tomorrow will be for the Obama/Biden ticket. I don’t agree with his 100% of his policies but I sure as hell know that he’s a better choice than McCain/Palin. The latter two worry me.