The Republican Dilemma

Perusing the Internet today, I came across this very well thought out article assessing the problems facing the Republican party over the loss of younger voters. I often read some of the Republican and conservative sights just to see what their take on current events is. Of course I have to ignore the ridiculous rants to get to anything substantive but it's worth it. I figure if I can put up with some of the crazy left rants, I can put up with the crazy right ones too.

I've been troubled in recent months when discussing the issue of young voters with some fellow Republicans. There seems to be a sort of conventional wisdom that we should expect young voters to trend liberal and Democratic, that the behavior of young voters in 2008 is not serious cause for concern. This stems from a belief in partisanship as a life-cycle factor, that voters start liberal and Democratic and wind up older, conservative, and Republican. But the data paint a very different picture.

Take the graph of partisan identification for instance; over the last few decades, young voters have not identified with the Democratic party in substantially higher numbers than voters overall. Even conservatism had its moment among young voters in the 1980's. Yet with the end of the Reagan presidency, young voters shifted toward liberalism. This ideological shift did not play out into actual partisan identification in a meaningful way until 2006 and 2008.

Even the comments were interesting. Here's one of many that I liked...

It's not hard to figure out
It's easy to see the GOP's problems.

Party mantra:

1. We don't like gays
2. We don't like immigrants
3. We think Obama is a tyrannical fascist communist dictator
4. We don't like Muslims WAIT, who DO we like besides southern white straight
people who love guns and hate gays, immigrants, and muslims(e.g. Obama)?

We also don't care about the plight of those college students who finish
college under tremendous debt after graduating to enter a terrible jobs
market.

Pretty simple.

Weekend

This weekend some friends that we met in Ft. Lauderdale last year came to visit. We saw them several times last year during extended weekend trips there. I think I've referred to him in some previous post as my "cock twin". Last weekend was their turn to visit us.

Friday, we went to the recently re-opened Ziegfield/Secrets, which is the only DC club that hosts naked dancers since all of the previous clubs were displaced by the new baseball stadium. Saturday we spent the day on the mall doing touristy kinds of things. We visited the new Capitol Visitor's Center and took a tour of the Capitol building. Next, we headed over to the Library of Congress. Later that night they accompanied us to a friends birthday party which was pretty cool. They disappeared for a while on a "fun" excursion.

Sunday we had brunch at Jacks, then cocktails at JR's. I couldn't believe how crowded it gets there on a Sunday. Later, they talked me into going to the Crew Club with them. I had never been before and have to say it is not nearly as sleazy as I would have expected.

Overall it was fun weekend in every way.

Funny

Guy-liner

Last night I watched a tivo'd recording Adam Lambert singing Born to be Wild on American Idol. For the record, I really try to avoid Idol, but the BF likes it.

His performance was really good. He looked natural and is obviously a natural entertainer. Now, the eyeliner was really obvious. Inspite of my previously, highly conservative nature, I've always liked it when others really put themselves out there and dared to be different. Perhaps that was my way of living more freely through them. Of course now I don't have such reservations.

Well, I came across this article today which was linked to from Google News. I'm guessing all of the comments are by teenage girls, but still it got me thinking.

So what if he wears eyeliner for a performance? So what if he wears it everyday? So what if he wears it and he's gay? Or straight? And who made up the rule that only girls wear eyeliner and when did this rule become cultural gospel?

I think all of this is silliness and is yet another example of how we invent completely artificial and arbitrary rules solely for the purpose of marginalizing and ridiculing any who transgress.

Well I think he looks cute and I don't subscribe to this. And even if he wasn't cute... I still think he should do as he wishes and it wouldn't bother me one bit. Hell... he could've done the show naked for all I care!

Fear and Marriage

The latest attempt by this video by the National Organization for Marriage is to try to win by fear. This is the same approach that has been used time and time again whenever a group of people belonging to the majority wants to marginalize those in the minority. It is no different than the antics used to defend slavery and segregation as well as to oppose equal rights. It is no different than the arguments posed to justify apartheid. And it is no different to justifications given for the slaughter of 6 million Jews.

This is their newest attempt since they are obviously losing the intellectual argument.

I know that a log of black gays dislike the equating of the civil rights abuses with the current struggle within the gay community and to an extent I agree with them. I agree because by definition it is not the same. If it was the same this would be 1960 or maybe 1860. Nonetheless, there are some similarities. Comparisons are not made because 2 things are exactly the same, but because there may be lessons to be learned from their similarities. Given that the same segment of the demographic that previously thought it OK that I couldn't sleep in certain hotels, eat in certain restaurants, attend certain schools or... yes... marry certain people are espousing the same arguments to once again relegate me to the sub-human, under-class, then yes I think the comparison is worthwhile.

I am heartened though, because I know that barring a cataclysmic event human progress has set us on a course that demands that equality be achieved.

Fascists

Funny segment from the Daily Show. I loved this quote:

Now you're in the minority, it's supposed to taste like a shit-taco

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Dubai

I just came across this article and could hardly believe it. It sounds believable and to some extent, matches little bits and pieces I've heard from other places. Nonetheless, it is truly disturbing and my heart goes out to the people caught in this predicament.

Obama

He's seems to be having a good week. There was a lot of skepticism regarding what he could accomplish at the G-20 and subsequent world tour. Then, just days before the trip, the signs from many of the worlds players made even these small goals seem distant.

And yet somehow Obama has managed to pull through in a big way.Did he get everything he wanted... No. And yet he accomplished more than anyone thought he would or could.

Below is AP footage of the Obamas being received in France by Sarkozy and his model/bride. From the crowd's reception to the statesmanship, it all touches me somehow.

Kings

Last night we watched our first episode of the TV drama series called Kings on NBC. It was the 3rd episode, but I liked it enough to watch the 1st episode online. There's a scene that's stereotypical and yet still remains poignant. I guess it connects to all of us gay boys who have been "found out" at some point when we start to wonder what becomes of us now?

The outing scene starts at the 45 minute mark.

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