A California Republican

People who were around during the Cold War remember McCarthy and his red lists. His banned lists. His lists of Communists that were a “danger” to society and to peace in the U.S. People remember his trials, the jailing of good people….people remember the hate and the fear. Those lists were blacklists - you couldn’t get hired, people avoided you, and you were ostricasized from the community.

Now the people who think Prop. 8 shouldn’t have passed are donig the same thing. They are creating blacklists that list all the people who donated money to the Yes on 8 campaign. Then they are suggesting that you boycott these places. In some situations, they are doing more than suggesting. In LA, a bunch of No on 8 people surrounded a Chick Fillet store whose manager had given $100 - yes $100 - to the Yes on 8 campaign. They harassed her, and drove business away from the store. When she came out to talk with them, they harassed her somemore. No one let her tell her point of view, and when she said she believed that marriage was between a man and a woman on religious grounds, the crowd almost became a mob. What kind of peaceful protest is this?

I think that some of these people have become mobs. They are thinking that mob justice will turn people around on the issue. If only they can make people regret donating, they won’t vote yes the next time marriage is tried to be defined as between a man and a woman only.

I think their tactics are backfiring.

I mean, who wants to read stories of harassment? Who wants to go to church and see hate slogans graffittied on their church walls? Who wants their name published on a list? My personal friend has her name published on one of the lists of people who donated to the Yes on 8 campaign. She hates that her private information, including her address, is listed. It would be one thing to publish her name and the amount donated on the web - afterall, that has to be reported anyways. But she doesn’t like that they listed her address….or her job. She fears for her security right now. Not that people will boycott her work - she works for the state - but for her personal security. Does this remind you of fear from another time? I think it brings back memories of McCarthy-ism. And I think it should stop.

Laws are passed everyday that I don’t like. But I have to live with them. I don’t go to court to challenge things simply because I am upset with the result. I don’t go to court to change something back, because I was happier before. Prop 98 passed by initiative and ammended the California constitution to require a ton of money to go to education (not that it does anything), and took budgeting power away from the Legislature. That seems to be a major amendment to the Constitution. Yet I didn’t see any of the groups on the left saying that only the Legislature can make “redical” changes to the Constitution then. Yeah - this smacks of mcCarthy-ism.

There are those who disagree with me. But when someone starts punishing you for exercising your First Amendment rights, that’s when the world begins to shut down. The First Amendment allows peaceful protest, gatherings, and free speech. Say what you want about the decision, but the US Supreme Court decided, long ago, that monetary donations to politicalc ampaigns were free speech. So when people are being blacklisted and singled out for hateful demonstrations because they exercised the rights to free speech - you have McCarthy all over again.

If this was that important, then they should’ve had these demonstrations ,this press, and this much organization before the campaign. The No on 8 campaign stank - Yes on 8 was better, and so the measure passed. Now you have to deal with it and stop crying because the people have spoken. I am getting tired of being constantly harassed when I go to church, and sometimes on the Light Rail train to work. I don’t like seeing the protesters around the Capitol everyday. They are aggressive, and getting more so. I have been pushed in their efforts to “talk” to me while I walk by. I have been thrown leaflets at. I have been preached to because I don’t immediately respond with an “I agree with you.” In fact, they have followed me, sometimes for blocks, as I walk away in order to get me to agree with them. That’s not peaceful protest.