ELECTION RESULTS

For those who choose not to believe in evolution, I refer you Tuesday’s election results. Without a doubt, human evolution is still a work-in-progress, still struggling to naturally select a winner with the best chance of advancing the species. Barack Obama has emerged, despite historical American prejudices, as that winner.

The president-elect says the struggle will be long and the climb will be steep. I think the struggle makes us stronger, and I look forward to it.

I do confess sadness over the passage of Proposition 8 in California. It appears that funding from the Mormon Church allowed two groups to conspired to ban same-sex marriage. The first group believes that they cannot fully exercise their rights as citizens unless they can limit the rights of others. Regardless of the issue, they always have some fear-based theory to support their position: If abortion is legalized, promiscuous sex will increase, and our society will be destroyed; if prayer is not permitted in school, children will no longer believe in God, and our society will be destroyed; homosexual marriage will undermine the institution of heterosexual marriage, and our society will be destroyed (I had no idea heterosexual marriage was that weak).

These theories are just that – theories. They are suppositions with no basis in fact whatever, yet they are presented by members of this first group as if they were the word of God, whispered to them by Him, and passed along by them to us, like some divine e-mail.

The second group is a patchwork quilt of small groups with one thing in common: they allowed themselves to be frightened by the arguments of the first group. Most surprising are the minorities. They apparently fail to see that if you can suppress gays, you can suppress Jews, blacks, Hispanics, or redheads. Anyone. If you rob my brother of his rights, you rob me. Either we are all full citizens or we are not.

For the moment, however, let’s bask in the glow of this historic election. Americans are often a clumsy people, but good-hearted, and I believe this election opens the door to an unimaginable future. I almost wish I were younger.