[Vision2020] upcoming midterm election

[keely emerinemix]

Vision 2020 has been pretty quiet lately, but with midterm elections coming 
out, I hope things liven up online.  I thought I'd stir the pot . . .

We have a number of important local elections, but my concerns are three 
state-level races:  State Superintendent of Schools (Luna vs. Jones), House 
of Representatives (Sali vs. Grant), and Governor (Otter vs. Brady), as well 
as HJR 2, the attempt to outlaw not only homosexual marriage but also civil 
unions.

On HJR 2, this conservative evangelical is voting a resounding "NO."  Gays 
are already not allowed to marry in Idaho; it hardly seems necessary to 
codify into the state's constitution a ban on that which is already not 
allowed.  But this nasty piece of legislation goes even further to affect 
something that is far beyond not permitting two men or two women to marry -- 
it prevents civil unions and domestic partnerships that permit any adult to 
enter into a contracted personal, civil relationship with another.  (This is 
obviously a gross simplification, but details on what constitutes civil 
unions serve only to illuminate the bad idea that is HJR 2).  I understand 
that  conservatives of many different faiths, or of no particular faith, are 
uneasy with homosexual marriage, but nothing in state law forces any 
institution of faith to perform them or any other marriage they deem in 
violation of Scripture.  Unease about gay marriage should not result in  a 
prohibition against civil unions, which are the mechanism by which loving, 
committed gay couples now secure the civil rights and societal privileges 
conferred to heterosexuals in marriage.  No church's faith or public witness 
is compromised by state law as it stands, and too many conservative 
Christian churches have been sold a bill of goods on this one -- a line of 
deception that purports to "take a stand for the traditional family" when 
evangelicals have been publicly and privately some of the biggest enemies 
thereof in the last century.  A vote for HJR 2 isn't a courageous blow 
against the forces of evil.  It's a fear-based, irrational and mean-spirited 
blow against basic civil rights.

I can't decide which is scarier:  Sali as my congressman, Otter as my 
governor, or Luna as head of Idaho's public education system.  By the barest 
of margins I'll go with the schools race, and probably because of my 
experience on the school board, I'd have to say that the idea of Tom Luna 
replacing Dr. Marilyn Howard would be laughable if it weren't so 
frightening.  Luna's support comes from the side of the political spectrum 
that believes in a solely market-driven approach to public education and 
denies the reality of an institution that, dealing as it does in the 
education of human beings, is enormously more complex and crucial to the 
functioning of society than the management of, say, a jewelry store -- or an 
industrial scales business, which is the business Luna runs.  The crushing 
burden of No Child Left Behind, social and economic factors that affect 
children, the complexities of education law and procedure, and the 
challenges of a largely rural state with very different demographics 
throughout is something that requires experience in education, 
administration, and a committment to the institution itself.  What I see in 
Luna and his supporters is a belief that ideology is sufficient -- that the 
free market trumps all, and what deserves to die, dies.  This inability to 
acknowledge the reality of today's federal oversight of schools in terms of 
standards, funding, assessments and bureaucracy, coupled with an apparent 
inability to see children as human being and not units of production, makes 
the possibility of Tom Luna's election more frightening even than Butch 
Otter's or Bill Sali's.

But barely.  Otter is only slightly less wacky than Sali, but both exhibit a 
"conservatism" that the GOP of a half-century ago would hardly recognize.   
And that's a pity, because with their election, I fear that Idaho is on its 
way to becoming a state that many of us won't recognize as part of the 21st 
century or the America our parents loved and fought for.  We've just got to 
do better, and I hope we do.

keely

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