California Proposition 8 Fallout

An interesting thing happened on the way to Barack Obama's historic victory on Tuesday. In several states, there were ballot initiatives attempting to establish standards for marriage definition as between a man and woman. The marquis battle this election occurred in California. This was a state that supported the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. Judges overturned the people's feelings on that matter. And the people overturned the judges.

The turnout included a tremendous growth of blacks who voted in favor of Barack Obama and why wouldn't they. He ran an excellent campaign and was clearly the better man in this election (despite my own preference). But for the first time in a long time, black voters really showed that they are not single issue lock-step Democrats(From the La Times):

Although many of the state's black political leaders spoke out against Proposition 8, an exit poll of California voters showed that black voters favored the measure by a ratio of more than 2 to 1. Not only was the black vote weighted heavily in favor of Proposition 8, but black turnout -- spurred by Barack Obama's historic campaign for president -- was unusually large, with African Americans making up roughly 10% of the state electorate.

The exit poll didn't ask voters why they voted the way they did. But Madison Shockley, pastor of Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad and among the roughly one-third of blacks who opposed Proposition 8, said the vote was understandable. "Black folks go to church, probably more than the Caucasian population, and the churches they go to tend to be very traditional."

This is a big moment. I think there is also opportunity in this for conservatives as many black voters have far more traditional values than is portrayed by the media or liberal activists. And they proved it this year. And more power to them and to other groups that stop voting for things that they really don't believe in. I think that Barack Obama may really mature the electorate in many ways. As we get past simpleminded allegiances and examine issues (all of us, black, white, asian, union, hispanic, business etc), we will all make better electoral decisions.

The tantrum protests around Prop 8 in California remind me of something that I would prefer to forget. That the most racist person I have ever known was a liberal black woman. And the most intolerant person I have ever known was gay. For you see, labels are never exactly as they seem. And the current news cycle is proving at least the latter as true. And the former would frankly look silly in today's world.

And thank God for that.

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