Living up to the promise of blogging my politics

Today is the first major election day in the States since I moved north of the border. I voted via absentee ballot a couple weeks ago--the powers that be allow my wife and me to vote for federal-level offices based on our old home address. So now we're just sitting and waiting to hear the results. While this election won't see the end of W.'s reign, there is the possibility of a shift of power in the houses; the House of Representatives looks like it will flip to the Democrats, the Senate is not quite as certain.

I have a lot at state, psychologically speaking, in this election. In some ways, this is the barometer that will help me determine if my home country is ever likely to move in a direction that would allow my family to move back home. I guess I have this fantasy that if the Democrats take power, they will immediately pass a federal bill on gay marriage* that would somehow be veto-proof, and voila, we could live wherever we wanted with protection in place for our family.

More practically, the scenario will probably play out as follows: the Democrats gain much power in both houses, probably with the majority of Representatives and almost even in the Senate. As a result, nearly nothing will be accomplished at the federal level for the next two years. And there will be no progress on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Which is something.

I think there will be more movement at the state level. There are several states with a variety of propositions affecting my family right now, both for and against our rights. The awful law in Virginia will most likely pass (saying that the state won't recognize any contracts between non-married people that would approximate the rights of marriage--it's poorly written and will cause problems well beyond what's intended). But there are a few states, such as Wisconsin, where it's looking like there might not be enough support to pass laws banning official recognition of same-sex relationships. And in Colorado, there are two propositions on the ballot, one creating some sort of official recognition, the other banning recognition. It's very close on the former, but at least the latter looks like it might be defeated, especially since one of the most strident opponents of gay marriage was recently caught out in some outrageous lies, proving yet again what can happen when Republicans try to repress their true identity by stridently opposing what they are.

I don't intend to watch numbers scroll by on CNN, but it's really tempting to stay up until midnight so that I can watch the coverage by Stewart and Colbert.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a link to a truly hilarious article that will also make you pause. When I first read it, I laughed out loud at parts. And then I noticed the byline. That is in fact the Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. Those men are not just funny, they're damn smart too.

*Or civil union or whatever. Right now, I don't care what it's called as long as my family is protected and I don't have to carry paperwork with me everywhere (which I don't always do, though I'm nervous when we travel without).