I'm bonkers - I know.

I think it all started in 5th grade with a letter and social studies lesson. Regan was seated and Mrs. Walden (the best 5th grade teacher in the solar system) had us all write him letters and taught us in depth about our amazing American Government.

That night was the first time my uncorrupted and wide eyed self started to see things beyond my neighborhood and purple unicorn bike. It was the first time I kept myself awake all night without a book. I was enamored with what I had learned at school and the question and possibilities associated with those golden questions that kept my little mind sparking, wheeling, and whistling all night.

"What would I do if I were President, if I were in Politics? What kind of difference could I make?"

I ran for my first position when I was in 6th grade. I can't remember what it was but I lost. It wasn't a defeat though because I got appointed to another position that was available. Something about selling suckers at lunch. I distinctly remember Mickey Valentines pops - a lot of them.

In 7th grade I was at a new school and I went at it again. This time for class president. My campaign colors were black and gold. I wore black and gold everyday for 2 weeks. I painted black poster board with gold paint, read a very clever speech, but I lost and got appointed to something else again.

I gravitated towards speech and debate. My first debate on point was in 8th grade at a school wide event. It was on Abortion. I went Pro-Life. We got trampled but I had the time of my life. No Swayze required.

High school and college brought on a whole bunch of other opportunities. I've volunteered for every kind of committee from Accreditation to Budgets through whatever student government was closest. I'm addicted to Policy. I feel alive when I feel like I'm causing change, when I'm involved, when I'm attached and responsible for something bigger and more important than me.

Pre-Mission college was particularly busy. I was slathered in meetings and agendas all the time and I lurved it! President of the Institute, President of the LDSSA, Student Government, Academic Senate and on and on and on. My church callings growing up was the same story; Beehive President, Mia Maid President, Laurel President, Stake Youth Rep, Stake Young Adult rep etc etc etc.

In my meager years as a register voter I have sat on 3 different juries two of which I have been asked to chair. As a matter of fact one of the first things I did on my 18th Birthday was register to vote.

This is just a part of my personality that comes out no matter where I am or how much I try and hide it. It's what I do. It's how I work. I'm a Red, a type A, and an ENFJ. People default to me and I don't mind. Leadership is easy and reflexive.

I don't regurgitate this to peacock about, just to background and foreground my recent mental landscape which I will get on with now -

Politics is second nature in my house. Mom was an activist (and still is in her heart. I catch her singing her Protest-folk music when no one is looking), Grandpa is a Vet, I was born with NPR in my ear and my hand over my heart.

With every history class I took and book I read that taught me more about this country my feelings went from the default, obligatory, conditioned, patriotism to a deep, personal and fervent conviction to my country.

Then the time came for my mission and where did I go - out of anywhere in the known world? None other than Washington D.C.
hmmmm -

Confession: I love politics. I've wanted to go into politics since I knew what the stuff was. I know its a dirty and mine fielded game that there is little room for women it, but its the lover I cannot leave behind. Its gnawed at me since I can remember.

I promised one of my besties Ms.Emsy Marvy Lady that as soon as I was finished Netflixing How I Met Your Mother I'd devote my red envelope attentions to The West Wing. This show, its brilliance, amazing wardrobe, and its depth hasn't helped sequester my inner Lobbyist.

So being at this career and logistical crossroads right now I have a lot of options and my imagination has had some elbow room for the first time in years, but Politics??!

My inner dialogue on the matter has been something like this:

Realistic Liz: This is crazy.
Wistful Liz: I love crazy. Its all I really know.
RL: That's not true.
WL: This is what I'm made for
RL: Nay. You're not tough enough to survive. Those people have no shame, a lot of money and a sense of entitlement that could blow over a semi. You're not even close to the Ivy League grad degree you'd need just to get some one's attention. That requires a number of things you don't have; grades, money, time, and a relation named Kennedy. Besides, what would you do? You can't just walk up to the White House in a cute suit with an honest heart. You're getting into the game like 12 years too late. People are half way through their political career by your age. Obama's speech writer is two years younger than you!! People who work in the White House are Rhodes scholars and valedictorians and all those smart people that you hang around but really aren't. This is folly. You're way out of your league and you know it.
WL: I don't care. Its what I love.

Law school seems horribly daunting. I'm the daughter of a lawyer and the granddaughter of a lawyer and its never occurred to me ONCE to look at it.

I was floored when my favorite professor at CalPoly took me aside once an suggested it as a grad school option. I'm still stammering at the idea honestly but the words fell hard and true and haven't left me.

I'm not sewing on any patches, thinking I could be president, or catching Potomac Fever by any means. I'm just articulating something that I've never really aired out before. That's all.

I'm bonkers - I know...

Wednesday Giggles

Warning:
There is a faint possibility that this will offend some of you.

However, for me, having gone through the emotional meat grinder that was Prop 8 firsthand;
- Having walked neighborhoods every weekend from August to November polling the issue
- Having walked in Yes on 8 rallies
- Having made more calls than I think I can remember
- Understanding that both sides are speaking two different languages, one is Civil Rights, the other Morality so there is little possibility that one can effectively communicate with the other and knowing this fact breaks my heart a bit
- Having made my Prop 8 stance as crystal clear as I can make it
- Being horrified and damaged by the abject and brutal discrimination and harassment that has been going on from the "Tolerant Community" towards my faith since the election
- and I am still actively supporting the voter's decision passing Prop 8

That being said - I find this hysterical.

Ladies and Gentleman - I give you Prop 8 - THE MUSICAL!

We're Everywhere

So I've had this article and song stuck in my head for the last few days. It was giggle of a link that this amazing lady and fellow Celt sent over.

"O'Leary! O'Riley! O'Hare and O'Hara!!!

There's no one as Irish as ..."

It Is TIme

There comes a time in the life of every red blooded American girl where she just needs to stand up and say something.

Fortunately, I do so quite often and not always necessarily about particularly weighty things.

However, right now, I am going to attempt to be serious.

I want to believe that I can change the world. I want to believe that I can help somebody and stand for something and make a difference. I want to think that I matter, that what I think matters; that I might be able to share and defend the things in my life that have brought me happiness. That I can stand in good company with my parents and ancestors who got to fight for what they wanted and what they believed. I don’t want to die without any scars.

As the American girl, daughter of a hippy and a lawyer that I am, I feel that flexing my influence as voter and conscientious citizen lets me do that, to a degree at least.

We’re in a pivotal election year. If you don’t know that you’ve been meditating under a rock somewhere in Katmandu for the last 18 months and should probably go back. It’s nothing but a stress joint over here and its lovely there.

There are A LOT of things to weigh, study, consider, and carefully make decisions about in this upcoming election.

There is a whole novel I could write and tell about the Presidential side of things but what I want to speak to now is something on California’s State ballot that I feel strongly about.

Prop 8 is getting a lot of attention and for good reason. It’s addressing a pivotal issue by asking us to define a social head space about Marriage and Family.

Its 14 words long;

“Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

I think that there are two legs to this issue that are imperative.

One is the legal precedence that is at stake.

In 2000 this exact set of wording was ratified and put into the constitution with a 61% majority.

Earlier this year 4 of the 7 California Supreme Court judges decided that they didn’t agree and that the 61% of California voters who said yes didn’t know what they were talking about and overturned it.

The last time I cracked an econ book, the courts’ responsibility was to interpret the law, not write it. Writing law lies with voters and their elected representatives in the State Senate. I don’t think that it’s OK for non-elected officials to think that they can speak on an issue voters have already spoken on, especially as recently as this one. It sets a gross precedent and one I’m not comfortable with. That’s too much unchecked power. There are only two states in the US right now who allow same sex marriages and that is CA and MA and both of those laws have come about because of the courts, not the voters.

Food for thought….

Secondly is the moral issue that’s in question.

Making the legal definition of marriage to be only between a man and a woman the charged and intense issue of Gay Marriage comes out of this almost instantly. It gets even hairier because what’s really going on is its asking people to reflect and make a call on how they feel about homosexuality in general. We are blessed with a significant homosexual population here in California and even now, despite our familiarity with it, there is still a lot of fear and hatred on the matter. There are still a lot of thinly disguised bigots out there that have jumped on this, some even in my own ranks, and scream their support for Prop 8 off of that box.

I don’t support that. It pains me to think that this issue is being so misunderstood and people are just using it to air out and justify their own prejudices. I can’t even begin to apologize for such ridiculous displays. That’s not how the election process is supposed to work.

I have close friends that are gay and I love them very much, so much so that I want them to be happy. It's all but an emotional mine field believing so strongly one way and loving so many people that choose to live their lives differently, but I will try to explain myself as respectfully as I can.

Like I said before, homosexuality is something we all live with. It isn’t the monster that a lot of the Christian world has cast it to be.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a passionate Christian. I’ve served an 18 month full time mission for my faith, regularly attend my meetings, do daily study from our written scriptures and teachings, attend the temple and honor the covenants I have made with God in those places. My ballot is sculpted by that belief system because I try to live my life according to what I know to be right and wrong not popular and unpopular.

I know that God loves his all children and I do my best to too. For me, this is all about love and always has been. That has never changed.

I know that God wants his children to be happy, and I know that He has designed a plan for us to be so and the centerpiece of that plan is Families.

Marriage and families are sacred to me. I rank it up there with prayer, revelation, scripture, and love. I don’t like it being treated like a political football but that is exactly what I see happening.

There isn’t a single civil right that same sex partnerships would win or lose with this proposition. What is in question and what is important to me is how we are collectively declaring our DEFINITION of Marriage.

Marriage is between a man and a woman. It always has been, and it always will be. It’s a divine design and no court or ballot will change that. So in an effort to live what I know to be true, I would want my civil constitution to reflect those truths as closely as possible.

It may seem like a trivial thing, but what we all decide in a few weeks will lay a groundwork for serious swings in public opinion, public education, parents rights, and start a nasty ball rolling towards any institution that only sustains marriage between a man a woman.

If it doesn’t pass and California’s anti-discrimination laws are abused, there could be a tyrannical proverbial kicking in the door of these places in the name of Tolerance. Tolerance seems to have taken on the horrible tendency to only go one way. “Tolerant” people seem to excuse themselves of being tolerant of supposed “Intolerant” people. It’s a nasty culture of hypocrisy, and again, I don’t think happiness lies anywhere where there is any kind of bigotry; whether it’s going right to left or left to right.

We’re all in this together and I think it’s imperative to examine WHAT is right not WHO is right. We will all be raising our families here eventually. We have to figure out how to live together and to do it well and with love. We drive on the same roads, shop at the same stores, laugh at the same movies, appreciate the same sunsets and pray that our kids will love California as much as we do.

I support Prop 8 because I choose Families with Mothers and Fathers that are married because they’re doing their best to live as closely to God and his plan as they can and I think it’s important for that definition of Marriage and Family to endure. Popular or unpopular as it may seem right now, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true and will continue to be.

I love you and wouldn’t speak so plainly if I didn’t.

Examine your conscience, register to vote and I’ll see you on Nov 4th.