Election Day Woes...

First, the good news.

Up until 2006, my vote has been the kiss of death for any candidate. If I voted for you, you were going to lose. I had not voted for one single winning candidate, including for such posts as town clerk. Not once. And I have voted in every single election since 1996. Even absentee when I was out of the country!

Boy did I ever break that curse...Jim Webb won the senate race against George Allen in Virginia with just over 7,000 votes. To add to the sweetness, that race gave control of the Senate to the Democrats. Finally, not only did I feel like the world saw things my way, but I felt like my vote actually mattered.

This is no easy feat. One of the largest fallacies in politics is that 'your vote matters'. The number of elections where the vote is within even 1% of all ballots is teensy. To think that a single vote mattered is really to have delusions of grandeur.

Voting is actually an awful lot about social pressure. In fact, when people are allowed to vote online, smaller communities - where social pressure is higher - have seen a decrease in voter turnout!

So, I was really happy about that particular vote. Too bad that was overshadowed by the depressingly large margin that Virginia voters approved the anti-gay amendment on the ballot.

The fact that this law passed - when it was so obviously unnecesary, not to mention overreaching (look at how a similar law in Ohio has weakened domestic violence laws) is really the final straw for Michael and me. We have talked about how we would feel if this amendment passed, and now that it has, the choice is clear: we have to move.

At this point, it is simply a matter of conscience. I cannot live in a state that is so openly hostile, so mean-spirited, and so anti-family. Apart from this amendment not changing any definition of marriage, since gay marraige was already illegal in Virginia, it opens murky legal territory for our contracts, wills, powers of attorney, property rights, and all manner of other legal arrangements.

We could stay and fight...or hope that we are lucky enough never to get into a fight...maybe that would be the noble thing to do.

But, the truth is that when it comes to someone messing with the safety and security of my family, I really don't care what is noble. I care about protecting the people that I love. That means that if I have to sell my house, or get a new job, or even relocate, that's what I will do.

And right there is the most extreme example of the problems with our red state/blue state divide. Because Americans are so mobile, there is just no good reason to stay somewhere that you feel unwelcome.

So, Michael and I aren't exactly sure how we are going to get out of Virginia, but we will start by selling our house, and take it as it comes from there. Congratulations, Virginia. You win this battle. We will leave your state.

But remember, demographics are on our side.