Six weeks till the end of the world as I’ve known it

Well, okay, maybe that title is a bit apocalyptic and untrue. I did work for three years after undergrad, so it’s not like I’m leaving the confines of academia for the first time or anything. In fact, because I’m getting done early due to starting the MBA program a year early, I’ve actually only been a full-time law student for two and a half years. Still, for that time, I’ve been consumed on a daily basis with readings on a wide variety of subjects, and need to be ready for daily grilling at the hands of professors, and a constant feeling of “i’m just not keeping up” (in terms of reading), and the since that there were just never enough hours in the day.

Now, the light at the end of the tunnel is becoming more visible.  In 42 days , I will have my MBA and my JD. I’ll be more educated than I ever thought I would be. Now, if I could just figure out this whole “job” thing . . .

A foreshadowing of 2010, or merely a trumped up shadowpuppet show?

Tuesday’s elections around the country were a mixed bag of messages for the two main political powers. The Republicans seemed to have the most to hoop and holler about, taking the gubernatorial races in Virgina and, more surprisingly and impressive, New Jersey. The conservative wing of the party also scored a “victory” of sort, in making sure that the Republican party’s local nominee didn’t win, since they viewed her as noting but a RINO (Republican In Name Only), and unfit to carry out the conservative agenda, as they see it, that should be the overall agenda of the Republican Party.  Of course, it doesn’t matter that the man they nominated to be their “Conservative Party” nominee knew NOTHING about the local issues (as was evidenced in an interview he gave the week before the election  that were pertinent to the congressional district he was trying to represent (and didn’t technically live there); all that mattered is that he hates abortion and gays and Obama, and loves him some Baby Jesus and Tax Cuts. I’m actually very concerned with this type of activity. Word is, that Conservative activists, like Mrs. Palin, and RedState.com blogger Erik Erickson, are possibly going to employ similar tactics against other moderate Republican nominees in the 1010 primaries and elections (ex. Gov. Charlie Crist of FL, who’ll be running against a conservative local state rep for that state’s Senate Seat being vacated by Sen. Martinez)

The bigger question, though, is this – was this TRULY a referendum or signal to the Democrats. Yes, the Congressional race in 23rd most likely had national policy overtones. The gubernatorial races in VA and NJ, however, more likely reflected growing concerns about local issues, especially in New Jersey, where this seemed to be more of a referendum against an very unpopular Gov. Corzine, than a rebellion against Obama and the DNC’s agenda. As well, turn-out for these 2009 elections was amazingly low. There’s no way that they stay this low in 2010. My hunch is that, while there may be some signals that national players should pay attention to, and are definitely going to send some shockwaves throughout the Republican Party internally, I just don’t think you can’t take these as any kind of overarching smoke signals for the 2010 races.

The Maine Gay-Marriage Two-Step

Approximately six-months ago, the elected representatives of the State of Maine passed legislation that allowed gay men and women to marry their significant others. This legislation was then signed into law by Maine’s governor. This was a slight departure in the movement towards more Gay Marriage in the US, where most of the battles have been fought in the courtroom, with gay marriage being approved in most of the other New England states by means of State Supreme Court determinations. These courts have examined their state’s constitutions, and have come to the conclusion that those states may not discriminate in the granting of marriage licenses based on sexuality. In Maine, however, the legislature took the proactive step of legislating that right.

Now, on Tuesday, the people of Maine voted to repeal that law.  The margin of the vote was 53 percent in favor of repealing the law, 47 percent opposed. That means 47 percent of the voters willing to turn out thought it was just peachy that gay men and women could marry. I bring this all up because there was, what I consider, a fairly though provoking piece on The Daily Beast, in which Linda Hirschman raised a fairly interesting question: Why was is this kind of issue on the ballot in the first place?

The thrust of the article is that the Founding Fathers had a fairly significant fear of “the public”. That is, after all, why we were given a Republic, and not a pure, every-voice-speaks Democracy, a la Athens. Founders like James Madison knew that there would be certain issues that the minority, by the very fact of their being a minority, would never get a fair voice in.

The most interesting point she raises is that of Brown v. Board of Education. Let’s say that the Supreme Court continued to reject to hear cases on “seperate-but-equal” education (Now, granted, the Supreme Court already had ruled once on the issue in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)) Still, like gay marriage, that would have left it in the hands of the state’s to decide. Let’s then take that scenario further. Say that the State Court’s also continued to reject hearing such cases. Even more so, sensing that rising tide of the “liberal equality” agenda, lets say that groups had taken to getting “Seperate-but-equal” legislation onto the ballot. I don’t think it’s at all unrealistic to imagine a scenario where the population’s of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Mississippi and every other former Confederate state, and even some of the non-confederate states (keeping in mind that Brown did take place in Kansas) voted to put it into their state constitutions that white children and black children were never to be educated in the same buildings. If it was always left to the populations to vote, at what point would the south have ever voted to let black children into white schools?

I know the pushback on this, of course, is that those who oppose gay marriage would say that homosexuality is a sexual choice, whereas race is something that you cannot actively choose to be, or change at a later time. And I’m not necessarily saying that I don’t think the voter of Maine had the right to vote the way they did. I simply wanted to extrapolate the Brown analogy used by Hirschman, and see what other’s opinions are in its regard. So, what do you think?

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• The Yankees have once again bought won a World Series. That’s 27 and counting.  There have been 105 “modern” World Series.  So New York officially has won 26% of all MLB  championships available. You can’t tell me that’s not evil. I will conceded,though, I didn’t hate this Yankees team as much as I’ve hated other teams.
• A few weekends ago, I had the privilege of going white-water rafting on the Ocoee River with my fraternity down in TN. Just like the old days, it was a blast, just hanging out around the first, us old guys catching up with each other, getting a chance to meet the new bloods. Winslett was my ride for most of the weekend, and this gave me the privilege of getting to see Kelly-Bo and Hudson. I also got to attend Chapter on Sunday night, the first time in about four years. It’s really, truly crazy how fast time has gone.
• You can judge me for this, and I don’t care: “Glee” is a good show. If you haven’t watched it before, check it out when it comes back to Wednesday nights on Fox. I’m also pretty interested in seeing how “V” turns out once it starts.

That’s all for now.  One love to you all, holla atcha boy.