Optimism?

The first blog I ever wrote was in 2004 after Ballot Measure 36 passed in Oregon. It codified marriage as being between one man and one woman. And it not only passed but it passed in all but two counties. Multnomah (Portland proper, not even the burbs where I live) and Benton (Corvallis, home of Oregon State, but not UofO which is generally thought to be the more liberal of the two colleges). It wasn't even close in the end.

I was devastated. Brent had set up a blog for the two of us to share writing on and this was the first time I felt motivated enough to sit down and write. I wrote about being sad, about being blindsided, about how I didn't think I could look at my neighbors the same way anymore. I learned two things posting that blog. One that it was cathartic to write and two, when Raquel commented on it, that it really was public. If I was going to post, other people were going to see it.

I don't think I wrote again for a long time. It wasn't until I was through with advertising (for the most part) and LMT school. I set up two new blogs at that time, one for the business and one for personal stuff and away I went. Politically I've written worries, triumphs, despair, all of it. And today...

Well...is this optimism? I think it's optimism. Guarded for sure, but holy shit it feels so good to see that Blue Wave actually materialize. The Clinton and the Harris non elections have made me super wary of polls so I couldn't let myself believe it until it started to happen. I swore I wasn't going to scroll through results last night but it ended up being impossible to look away from. Not in the way 2016 and 2024 were, but honestly so much better than 2020.

This feels different than the Biden break in 2020. That was a relief. It felt like maybe it was going to be okay. Then the next two months happened capped by January 6, and then no accountability for January 6th so a return to the nightmare in 2024. But this time with even worse people surrounding him. It's been too much. And it was too much to give in to the hope that it would be a good result yesterday.

But it was. It was so good. Texas? I mean TEXAS? Holy shit. This feels like maybe we are actually seeing a shift.

Here Kotek was reelected. Which I have to admit I had not been sure would happen. Kotek only won by like 3% last time they met and she hasn't been a super popular governor. Hell, if the stakes hadn't been so high I probably would have voted for the Green Party candidate. But this time it looks like she's going to win by at least 6% (the spoiler candidate, Betsy Johnson, was not involved this time). But earlier in the summer there were polls showing Drazan in the lead. I think the Kotek campaign did what they needed to do by reminding people how Kotek has kept Trump out of Oregon and how Drazan supports him and his plans. That might have been all they had, but it was more than enough.

And I'm relieved. We live on the edge of city and country and there are a lot of Republicans out this way. So a lot of GIANT Drazan signs were all around us. There is a little horse farm down the road from us that we use as our first voters' guide recommendation. Whatever he puts up we know we won't vote for. One year it even led me to changing my orthopedic doctor as we found out he was running for, and funding, an entire slate of Book Banning Busybodies for Hillsboro School Board. (I'm pretty sure that was their slogan) This year we also noticed the anger was a lot higher. Right after he put up his Drazan sign somebody splashed a whole bucket of paint on it. He cleaned it off as much as possible but it was still something to see.

But Kotek pulled it out. And the dems have a super majority again. Which means the republicans will be back to just walking out to prevent votes, but maybe, just maybe this time they will figure out how to change that from being a thing they can do. I need them to not squander this opportunity.

Nationally as well. Don't squander.

No accountability last time led to where we are now. Like antibiotic and vaccine resistant diseases they came back worse than ever. We need to see some consequences. And not just the votes yesterday, but actual investigations and where warranted impeachments and prosecutions. We have a chance to start putting things to right, and it's needs to be done.

That's where the cautiousness comes in to account. Good governance is hard. And that's what needs to happen for the next two years. Then we need another massive Blue Wave to make sure that it continues.

I'm also disgusted with my neighbors to the north that passed a vile anti-trans bill. But here's where my optimism is trying to take hold. Measure 36 is technically still on the books here, but it became null and void when gay marriage was legalized nationally. I'm hopeful that nationally we will eventually see a shift away from villainizing trans people. And from letting perverts look in kid's underwear before letting them play kickball with their friends. Those anti marriage equality bills hit a fevered pitch back in the early 2000s, the last gasp of the bigots. I'm hopeful that we have seen the height of the trans panic as well.

So right now I'm relieved, and optimistic.

So much work to still be done, and the next two years with a cornered Trump administration are not going to be easy. But...so much better than it could have been and optimism feels good.