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opinion

No on 8 and Yes on McCain? (UPDATED)

I wonder if many Californians will vote no on 8 but yes for McCain. I'd like to see those numbers afterward. Seems like it would be an odd thing to do, but I have a funny feeling more than a few people will do it and some of them will come from our industry.

I suspect that those who do "split" their vote will have done so because they still hew to the fantasy that Republicans protect free markets more diligently than Democrats. But they need to get over that hoary canard, which was finally shot dead about a month ago.

They also need to realize that even if Obama wanted to dismantle the free market system, which he doesn't, it would be an impossible task. If anything, he'll put some refs back on the field, which is what we really need. If he tries to go much further than that, I suspect even a filibuster-proof Democratic Congress will bite his hand hard. (Unless they're the ones that instigate it!)

As far as taxes go, I've been alive long enough to know better than to take the promise of raising or lowering tax rates as anything but campaign sloganeering. Candidates always promise one or the other but often have to eat their words. Basically, I think voting for or against a presidential candidate because of taxes is myopic and self-serving (in a bad way.)

My hesitant suggestion is that socially progressive Republicans take another look toward the future and keep their minds fixated on the role the courts will play in the protection of our civil liberties. It is in that arena that our vulnerable rights will be brought to ruin faster than any outside threat could possibly accomplish.

*UPDATE*

Looks like I may have had it backwards and a lot of people, including perhaps a majority of African-Americans, voted yes on 8 and yes on Obama. I voted no on 8 and yes on Obama, which I feel was more consistent and far less ironic.

At any rate, they still haven't called it, even though the latest numbers, just pulled of the County Registrar website, are distressingly close.

SAME-SEX INITIATIVE
 YES 1,317,125 - 50.4%
NO 1,296,319 - 49.6%

It's over. Intolerance prevailed once again. One of the last great battles for universal civil rights goes on. I am deeply ashamed for California, Florida and Arizona, but especially California! We should be leading the nation in this great struggle, not pandering to those who would deny to others what they have always had for themselves.

Here's an interactive map that shows the geographic breakdown of the vote.

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