They really don’t get it, do they?
Despite losing the popular vote in five of the last six Presidential elections, some conservatives still think that the way to win the White House is to be even more radical and to lean even farther to the right.
Are there any Democrats who are that deluded? OK, maybe a few who think that Bernie Sanders would be the best candidate, but they are few and far between. (I think Sanders would be a great President but a terrible candidate, by the way, and I want to win.)
Maybe 40% of the voters will always vote for their party, leaving 20% in the middle who really decide elections. The way to win is to appeal to the middle, not the extremes. The liberals on the left will never vote for a Republican and the conservatives on the right will never vote for a Democrat, so the way to win is to get the ones between those two extremes.
That is why the GOP keeps losing the big elections. In a gerrymandered district full of people just like you it’s easy to win, but when you look at an entire state and then at the entire country, they have a real uphill battle (especially when the majority disagrees with them on almost every single important issue).
So to those conservatives who think that Palin is our worst nightmare: Oh yes indeed. I am so afraid of Palin being your candidate. Oh, please, do not nominate her. I beg of you. It will make me so unhappy if you do so.
The craziest state in the union just did something sane.
A Federal judge has ruled, like all 18 cases that came before this, that prohibiting gays and lesbians from getting married is unconstitutional.
That’s a 100% success rate, for those of you keeping score.
Admittedly, some of these are on hold because they are on appeal, and eventually the US Supreme Court will have to deal with it. Yes, that scares me a little bit, because there members of that body that literally think that the honest-to-God devil is influencing people to support gay marriage. I am not making this up. Fortunately, since all of these decisions have been based on the Supreme Court decision knocking down the Defense of Marriage Act, I am hopeful that the same majority will hold.
Today is my 32nd wedding anniversary. Coincidentally, it is also my wife’s. (She’s the amazing award-winning artist Heidi Hooper, in case you didn’t know.)
It’s astounding we have lasted this long given that we have no children. After all, as the anti-marriage people keep telling the courts, marriage is all about procreation and that’s why we can’t allow those gays and lesbians to have equal rights. Fortunately, each subsequent court’s laughter at this argument grows exponentially. 
We always knew we wanted to be like this — not because we hate kids, but because we wanted to do other things in our lives. If you have children, that becomes your life. Other things you may have wanted to get done get put on the back burner (or should be, anyway — your kids should be your first priority.)
I think I would have made a good father, but if I had, I probably wouldn’t have taken many of the risks I took in life — starting businesses, moving fairly constantly, and otherwise always trying to better myself. Heidi probably wouldn’t have gone back to get her master’s degree if we had children to care for (and pay for). Our lives would have been completely different. Not worse, just different.
That’s just the choice we made. It was frustrating at first when family members constantly asked when we were having children (Well, mostly Heidi’s family — a very traditional, southern family who still can’t acknowledge after 32 years that her name is not “Heidi Ventrella”).
More and more couples I know these days are not having children, and that is absolutely fine. I am thrilled for my friends who have happy families, and thrilled for those who don’t. There is nothing wrong with deciding not to reproduce. Those who say childless couples are “selfish” for not repopulating the world in their image are very insulting. I could counter that those who have children are selfish for contributing to overpopulation, but that is just as stupid an argument.
Ironically enough, sometimes these people who think there is something wrong with not having children would never think to criticize gay and lesbian couples for their “lifestyle choice” (even though that’s not really a choice). Not having kids is also a lifestyle choice, and should also be respected. These critics would never think to shame a gay couple for not adopting, but feel just fine looking down on a straight couple that decides not to have kids.
Anyway, Happy Anniversary, Heidi! May we celebrate another 32 together. Childless.
by guest blogger David Gerrold
I haven’t said much about Ferguson because I haven’t taken the time to read all the news accounts. What I have read makes me recoil in horror. It is as if someone has pulled the blanket off the bed and revealed a horrifying mass of skittering cockroaches — Missouri’s institutionalized racism and bigotry are now on display for the entire world to see.
Elsewhere, the news is reporting other shooting deaths of young black men, other unfair incarcerations, other miscarriages of justice — I have to wonder if some of this isn’t a backlash against the first African-American president, but more than that, I have to wonder about the great wealth of skills and abilities and talent that are being wasted, that are being denied to us.
How many George Washington Carvers, Booker T. Washingtons, Harriet Tubmans, Maya Angelous, Neil deGrasse Tysons, Duke Ellingtons, and Martin Luther Kings are we jailing, suppressing, and killing? 
How many opportunities for a cure for some pernicious disease? How many great works of art or literature? How many brilliant performances? How many great scientists? How many incredible educators?
What we are doing to ourselves and our nation is attacking ourselves and a vital part of our own culture. We are punishing our own ability to succeed and thrive. And why? Because we’re still fighting a war that both sides lost over a hundred and fifty years ago. The south lost the war, the north lost the victory, and America is impoverished because we have not yet begun to heal the wounds, instead we just inflict deeper wounds upon ourselves.
Regardless of the circumstances of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson (and right now, I do not trust anything the police are saying), but regardless of the circumstances, what has been revealed is much deeper than one incident or even a pattern of incidents. What has been revealed is the portrait in our attic, the one that reveals the rot and corruption we have allowed to fester.
There is only one sure and certain way to change any of this. Register and vote.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to click the remote control.
Nebula and Hugo award winning author David Gerrold is the author of over 50 books, several hundred articles and columns, and over a dozen television episodes. TV credits include episodes of Star Trek, Babylon 5, Twilight Zone, Land Of The Lost, Logan’s Run, and many others. Novels include WHEN HARLIE WAS ONE, THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF, the “War Against the Chtorr” septology, The “Star Wolf” trilogy, The “Dingilliad” young adult trilogy, and more. The autobiographical tale of his son’s adoption, THE MARTIAN CHILD won the Hugo and Nebula awards for Best Novelette of the Year and was the basis for the 2007 movie starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, and Joan Cusack. His web page is here.
A mass contingent of conservatives who hate the oppressive power of Big Government recently traveled to Ferguson, Missouri to show their support for citizens fighting against Big Brother.
“This is just like our battle with farmer Bundy,” said the leader of one group. “Or Waco! Who does the government think they are, shooting at innocent kids like that? And then bringing in military-style police forces to silence people who are legally protesting. What is this, Communist China?” 
“We warned you,” claimed another group. “We said that sooner or later, we’d have to take up arms against the government that tramples on our rights and ignores the Constitution. Now is the time for all good citizens to grab their guns and fight!”
Later, the group changed its mind when it discovered that the government was only oppressing and shooting unarmed black people. “That’s different,” the patriots said, as they went off to look for another millionaire white guy to declare treason with.
