San Francisco Values

Today I will be voting for Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco values. These are my values. These are the values that favor reasoned discourse over hate; that cultivate an open and responsive government that listens to the citizens; that are forward thinking in ways like dedicating resources to public transportation and not just to roads. We look for new ways to solve problems, solutions that are sometimes ridiculed because they are novel or misunderstood. Often our solutions are later mimicked once proven successful.

But opportunists, largely on the right, want you to fear these values without understanding what they really are. Key to their ploy is to set aside all the grand achievements and attributes of this spectacular American city and replace it with a particularly irrational and abhorrent fear of gays.

Here too, San Francisco will shine. As being a racist was the norm and often a required trait for politicians in many places 50 years ago, so is being a gay basher today. There are many places in the country where a politician would become unelectable if they supported gays' right to adopt or to teach in public schools. There are few places where a politician could support gays' right to enter into a marriage contract. Nonetheless, as spouting racist views slowly became politically unhelpful, so will hating gays.

I don't doubt that as blantant racism melted from political discourse, so will gay bashing. It's the other attributes--open & responsive government (SF has some of the stronges and most strongly enforced sunshine laws in the nation), setting policy for the benefit of the poeple instead of for the benefit of corporations (SF routinely opposes big box stores and business backed transportation policy that distroy neighborhoods and put everyone in a car). Although certainly not as the result of this election cycle, one day, if we're lucky, this nation may be afforded San Francisco values.