If you talk to me much or stalk me on Twitter then you know that I couldn’t be more unenthusiastic about this years Presidental campaign.
Once again I feel like I am forced to pick “the lesser of two evils.”
I used to consider myself Republican, but then the Republican did not seem to match me very well.
I now would consider myself a Constitutionalist, but if I have to go Red or Blue then I would still fall more Republican.
Each candidate has things I like, and each have things I don’t like.
I will briefly layout the pros and cons in my eyes (This is by no means a complete list, and some may overlap)
McCain
+ “Basic” Conservative values
+ Pro Gun
- Wants not only continued war but also MORE wars
- Wouldn’t know a computer if it landed on his lap
Obama
+ “Acts” non-war hungry
+ At least knows something about Technology
- “Basic” Liberal values
- Anti-Gun
And I am expected to choose from that…. 
One topic that seems to come up every time there is an election is Gay marriage.
This is a topic that I have never really given a thought to as it does not effect me.
However, this election year here in Arizona there is a proposition as to if the law should read that marraige is between a man and a woman.
Then past that, members of my church went and did something they should not have…
A LARGE amount of people (from at least my ward) decided that this was a big issue (which is fine if that’s what they think), however they then went on to use church mailing lists (phone and email) to “inform” members that they should vote this in, and to recruit people to work in a phone bank to call and inform people.
Now if they want to vote for this proposition that is fine. If they want to work in these phone banks, that is fine. The part I have a problem with is them using the church mailing lists to “inform us” and that while they where “informing” us they make it out to be that the church is telling you to vote this in.
THAT I have a problem with.
It’s not that I care one way or the other on this proposition, it’s that they are using the church to push their political agenda.
Then shortly after this happened the same question came up in the Vice President debates. In the debates BOTH parties said they were NOT for gay marriage. (Biden said he is for other gay rights, but not marriage)
This surprised me as I thought Biden would have been for gay marriage.
Anyways, this then got me thinking about the topic.
What came from that may surprise some…
Let me preface this by saying that I do believe that the natural thing is for attraction to go between a man and a woman. I think the fact that the large magaority of people are this way. According to gaydemographics.org in 2004 the percentage of Same-sex couples in the USA was 1.16%. Or to even pad that with Alfred Kinsey’s study which stated 10% of males had at least “tested the waters.” That’s a big difference in numbers, but even if we go with the 10% that means 90% are Heterosexual. So I think that shows that Heterosexuality is the “norm” if you will. (not to mention that Homosexuality is just kind of gross) 
So with that aside…
I came to the thought that I do not have a problem with gay marriage.
America was founded on the ideal of Freedom.
Not only was it a freedom of religion, but also other basic freedoms.
Basically it was the freedom to be who and what you want to be.
So why doesn’t being gay count?
Many will start in with that its a sin in the eyes of God, and while I may believe that, isn’t that come back to a freedom of religion?
I don’t think anyone will dissagree that what is a sin to God varrys depending on what religion you ask.
Besides, even if it is a sin… I know that in the LDS church it has been said over and over again that just because someone does not believe what we believe, does not make them a bad person and that we should be just as friendly with them. In the Bible it says to be in the world, but not of the world. St. Augustine said, “With love for mankind and hatred of sins”, ie, “Love the sinner and hate the sin.”
So if someone wants to get married to someone of the same sex… why not let them?
How does it hurt us?
Some may say it ruins the santatity of marriage, but I don’t think that is fair to say when we watch TV shows like “Who wants to marry a millionarie?”
Besides what is marriage?
According to Merriam-Webster marriage is:
“(1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2): the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage <same-sex marriage>”
and
“an intimate or close union”
Lets take that first one and strip out the gender parts.
“the state of being united to a person in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law”
Personally I don’t see how two people of the same sex who love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together, ruins that for us straights.
Plus homosexuals already have civil unions, which is really basically the same thing.
So even though I am happily married to a woman, and the thought of two guys kissing is gross to me, I don’t see why we should have a problem with gay marriage.
Well that is my political rant.
I will leave you with the following,
“Americans inherit from our ancestors a glorious tradition of freedom and resistance to oppression. Our country has long been admired by the rest of the world for her great example of liberty and prosperity—a light shining in the darkness of tyranny.
But many Americans today are frustrated. The political choices they are offered give them no real choice at all. For all their talk of “change,” neither major political party as presently constituted challenges the status quo in any serious way. Neither treats the Constitution with anything but contempt. Neither offers any kind of change in monetary policy. Neither wants to make the reductions in government that our crushing debt burden demands. Neither talks about bringing American troops home not just from Iraq but from around the world. Our country is going bankrupt, and none of these sensible proposals are even on the table.
This destructive bipartisan consensus has suffocated American political life for many years. Anyone who tries to ask fundamental questions instead of cosmetic ones is ridiculed or ignored…..”
-Ron Paul
Dwight
October 8, 2008
I voted for Obama, via absentee ballot. I am like you in regard to a lot of your viewpoints. I think that Obama has the most promise for the future and better for the country, though I don’t agree with everything. Certainly I trust the economy under his hands as McCain continuously proves to be inept and trust inept advisors.
Palin is no friend of mine, and I wish Mormons would realize that evangelicals are like that snake that asks for a ride, and when you get to the destination is bites you and says, “you knew what I was when you picked me up.” Evangelicals aren’t bashful and state on their websites often that they view Mormons as a non-Christian cult. Do we really want to get in bed with them? I’m not saying we can’t be civil and when goals align like humanitarian efforts, but so many Mormons want to jump in bed with them not realizing that the probably the biggest reason evangelicals like Mormons is our money. I do recall back in middle/high school though wanting to feel legitimized that we were indeed Christian to the other Christian faiths.
Also the church fighting gay marriage is hard for me to swallow. Does anyone remember polygamy, something we don’t practice now, but still believe in? Whatever happened to teaching the people and letting them govern themselves. What happened to reserving the right to worship God how we want and letting others worship God how they want (Article of Faith). Well some people don’t buy that gay marriage is a sin, so why should they have to live under the rule of those that do? The whole gay marriage thing reeks of denying the priesthood to blacks as well. There hasn’t been a definitive ‘thus saith the Lord,’ instead just a lot of cultural norms creep in and dominate the discussion. It’s telling that the leadership can’t give any more reason to oppose gay marriage than ‘it’ll just be really bad if it passes.’ Seems to be the leading of men as opposed to inspiration. Sure it will change things, but aren’t we all for people living the law of chastity which is to make things as monogamous as possible. Also it’s interesting cause the normal is just to encourage people to vote, and I bet 90~95% of Mormons would vote against gay marriage without any encouragement. The thing is that the church knows that support for gay marriage is growing and so they have to try and mobilize what support they can to their cause. So we see the church of our youth who never got more involved than to say be involved, trying to direct us politically. The fact is that more and more people are knowing a gay person and realizing they aren’t demons that chose to be gay and they just want to be happy.
How can you love someone while doing everything possible to say they are 2nd class citizen and do what you can to keep them from being happy?
I know this is already way too long, but one last thing. It’s funny that here in Sweden where gay unions are normal and they are moving to legitimize gay marriage, though there is this thing called sambo which is basically you’ve told the government that you live together and so you don’t get all the legal rights of marriage, but if you break up it can be a lot like divorce (though you can do it civilly and avoid lawyers), if you tell some members about what the church is doing in Arizona and California they don’t believe it, cause gay couples are legitimate here and they haven’t destroyed anyone’s marriage.