This is NOT my America

Ohio passed its issue to narrowly define its terms of marriage. Under the guise of "protecting traditional American values," the issue has effectively erected a "no gays allowed" sign across the landscapes of marriage, civil rights, humanity, decency, etc. As a straight man, I don't know the right words to explain the way I feel this morning.

Disgusted comes to mind. As does appalled. And deflated.

See also: Disappointment--though that doesn't quite do it justice.

Maybe I just care too much, or at the very least I expect too much. Apparently I expected too much of America, of humans.

We have issues, but I love my father. I don't want to live in the America--in the world--that he lives in, full of ignorance, hate, bigotry, et al.

It is days like today, however, that it is becoming increasingly obvious that I do.

With a vice grip of naive hope, I cling to the future--for a brighter tomorrow. I try to remember the course of the Civil Rights Movement, how it took years to legally remove the bigotry and legalized discrimination, if many more to remove it from practice (inasmuch as that has been accomplished). I dream that the years that follow will give us a chance, as the most hard-core of the Good Ole Boys die off, that those who are young Americans today will step to the forefront and strike down such narrowmindedness as was passed in the Swing State today.

I pray for this to happen, but I also fear the future. I think--yes I really, really do--that there exists a young generation of progressive thinkers. In time, they will inherit America, and I believe they/we can correct the sins of our fathers. However, my fear resides in the effects of this ultra-conservative fundamentalism that America is continuing to be subjected to. Will they/we fall prey to the mindset of division, hate, and of an ignorant black-and-white, cookie-cutter vision of the world? For that matter, will there be any of us left, as we could all come perilously close to dying for an unjust, unsubstantiated "Love me, daddy" war?

I am troubled by the direction America is taking. This is not the country that I love. Today, this is not the America that George W is preaching about to our country as he sends off our young soldiers to die for. The America he is creating is failing to live up to the rhetoric he uses to justify his actions.

This is not my America.
This is a joke.