Why I’m Still a Democrat

This is an old post from my now-defunct Myspace blog. I'm going to post some of the older postings in reverse chronological order to put a little meat on the bones of this puppy.

Originally posted on Monday, February 04, 2008.

Tomorrow I will go to the polls in Illinois and vote in the Democratic Primary. A lot has changed for me since the 2004 elections when I was a rabid Kerry supporter and couldn't fathom how anyone could vote for George W. Bush. I moved to the ghetto in Columbus and then to Chicago and I started my job. I've moderated my views quite a bit since 2004 and I finally truly understand why some people would choose to vote Republican.

I don't think many Republican candidates seem to be genuinely anti-tax anymore. It's hard to be truly anti-tax when opinion polls show that the same people who whine about government spending whine just as loudly when their cherished programs are taken away. No one wants to pay the piper, but they all want a piece of the pie. But having been squarely plopped in a very high tax bracket, it's not without pain that I open my paycheck each month. I hate taxes. They should be lower. And programs should be cut. Personally, I think a good place to start cutting would be frivolous wars that only serve to inflame the passions of a fanatical group of psychos, but what do I know?

I also believe firmly in the Second Amendment. Chicago is one of a small handful of American cities where a citizen legally cannot own a handgun to protect himself. (Clearly, criminals ponder this law intently before buying a gun for $5 on the corner and using it to kill an unarmed law-abiding citizen.) It's kind of like the death penalty (which, for certain crimes and with evidence far beyond a reasonable doubt, I support). Critics of the death penalty will say that it doesn't reduce crime. But as one politician who is pro-death penalty aptly noted, "Yeah, but I know *one* guy who won't be committing anymore crimes." It's hard to argue with logic like that. Death, if nothing else, is blissfully terminal. Likewise, it's not a question of whether the little old lady riding the El late at night will carry a handgun in her purse to defend against a would-be mugger, it's a question of can she carry it. Well, and there's that darn Second Amendment too. Shove the "well regulated militia" up your liberal bum and give me my .35 millimeter, you Starbucks-drinking suburban democrat.

...But then there's the gay thing. It's not as glamorous as the civil rights movement of the 60s. There are no black and white photographs of peaceful protesters at lunch counters having condiments poured over their heads. There are no snarling dogs biting the innocent as they cross a bridge at Selma. Sure, there are the "Matthew Shepard moments," but it's just qualitatively different. The gay rights movement is so often fought in the shadows--in hospitals and city halls and in the tax code.

I did a speech on gay marriage in college. During my research I uncovered countless heart breaking stories. Due to the time limitations, I only shared two. One involved a lesbian couple who had two children. The children were the biological children of one of the mothers. When the biological mother died, the state took the kids from their other mother and gave them back to their biological father, even though there was evidence that he had been abusive. As they were ripped away from the only family they knew, they cried and screamed for their "mommy." Without marriage rights, the theft of those poor children was perfectly legal. The second story involved a gay couple from Hawaii who had been together over 25 years. One night one of the men had a heart attack. The ambulance whisked him away, his partner not far behind. When the man's partner got to the hospital, he was told he would not be allowed into the room. He wasn't "family," said the hospital. For three (yes, three) days, he and his lawyers fought with the hospital. On the third day, the hospital informed him that he could finally see his partner of 25 years. His beloved partner was--they informed him--in the morgue.

I want lower taxes. I believe in the Second Amendment. But when I stand in the voting booth next to a man who believes that Jesus wants him to hate the fags or next to a woman who kicked her daughter out of the house because she was a lesbian or even next to a person who doesn't really know any better, but, goshdarnit "those people" freak him out so he better vote Republican and maybe they'll all go away, and, well, why the hell do those freaks need rights anyway?... I think of the kids. The kids being ripped out of mommy's arms. I think of the man. The man fighting for three long days just to see his soulmate as he lay dying in the hospital all alone. And until a brave national Republican candidate stands up and recognizes that this isn't a religious battle, it isn't an inconsequential tiff over some "special" rights for a fringe minority... until that "Grand Old Party" recognizes that the battle for gay rights is a battle for basic human rights, I'll be pulling the Democrat lever time and time and time again.

Go vote your conscience tomorrow and in the months to come.