Minnesota

I've been following the news and Facebook posts concerning the Minnesota Legislature's current attempt to put a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage onto the 2012 general election ballot. Thirty-one states have had similar state amendments put on their ballots over the last 15 years, and 31 states have approved them (one state rejected the first attempt and passed it the second time). Most political analysis tends to show that, in large part, conservative politicians tend to want so-called "wedge" issues like this on a ballot because it gets conservative voters to show up on election day, and likely vote for conservative politicians.

My response so far has been to write letters to my state senator and state representative, both Republicans (District #29, Dave Senjem and Duane Quam). Senator Senjem has already voted for this in the senate, and the house has not yet voted. I expressed my disappointment to Senator Senjem, and to both I asked them how they would feel if the right to marry their wife and have the legal protections that their wife and children have was put onto a ballot for voters to decide on. I also pointed out that over the next year and a half, I, like many other people in my situation, will be spending our time, energy, and probably money campaigning to defeat this amendment, instead of spending our time, energy, and money on our families, and doing things that actually make a difference (for me, that is the volunteering I do at church and the animal shelter, and the community bands I play in, not to mention the time I will be spending on my master's degree).

The response I am expecting from my elected officials (if I get any at all) is that they're not voting for a marriage ban, they're voting to give Minnesotans the right to vote and make the decision themselves. Which is a complete political cop-out. If that is really how they believe things should be (that we should all vote on everything ourselves), then we do we have elected officials? It is also important to point out that 301 out of the last 304 proposed constitutional amendments were NOT passed on to voters. So the VAST majority of the time, the legislature does NOT believe that people should have the right to vote on an issue themselves.

The constitution should be HARD to change or amend. Our US constitution only has 26 amendments in almost 250 years. Some states, like Iowa, require that the legislature pass a proposed amendment in two consecutive sessions (i.e. 2 years apart) before it goes to the ballot. Other states have similar rigorous procedures like requiring 2/3 majorities. The US constitution requires that, after it gets through the senate and house, that 3/4 of all of the states ratify an amendment in a general election. 3/4!!! All to make sure that amendments are taken seriously. Minnesota? Legislative majority, and popular vote majority in one election. Governor has no power to do anything. Minnesota Supreme Court can't overturn an amendment. Where are the checks and balances here?

Friend Shelley shared a good blog post with me from Nick Coleman on the topic. A recent poll hows that over half of Minnesotans don't support amending the constitution for this issue. But history also shows that even when poll numbers show that something isn't going to happen in an election, sometimes it still does (Proposition 8 in California in 2008). So, despite the best efforts of me and a lot of other people over the next year and a half, it's very possible that this amendment will pass, and that my right to marry the person I love will be taken away in Minnesota forever (forever = it would take another amendment to nullify this one, which would probably mean years more of time, energy, money, campaigning, etc.).

Oh, and in case you didn't know, there is already a law on the books in Minnesota prohibiting same-sex marriage. Yes, that law could be overturned by a court or repealed by a legislature. But that has not happened, and so even if this amendment fails, I still don't have the right to marry the person I love.

For the first time since I've lived in Minnesota (and just so you know, I've lived in Minnesota the majority of my life, from age 1 to 8, and from age 22 to 36, a total of 21 out of 36 years), I am really considering whether I will be living here for the rest of my life.

Willpower

My good friend Shelley writes a world-renowned blog on Debt Reduction. One of her most recent articles talks about the temptation/struggle of excess spending when you actually have more money to spend (vs. saving and wiser, more planned uses of money). This got me thinking about how we all have temptations we have to deal with, and the willpower we use to deal with them.

I have gone 7 straight weeks on the Atkins diet now, and have not cheated or slipped once (yes, not even once, not even a little bit!) That's been the case on every diet I've ever seriously committed to, marathon training I've done, weight lifting programs I've been on, etc. People look at that and tell me that I must have extraordinary "willpower". It's fun to get a compliment like that, but I'll admit that in this case what they're calling "willpower" is really rooted in what I would describe as an "obsessive" personality (to a degree anyway). Once I decided to start doing this diet, there are clear rules to follow and I have no trouble following them and almost nothing can make me deviate from clear rules (that I've decided to follow). This phase of the diet is very simple and safe for me - follow the rules and you will lose weight. There are no decisions to make, no optional paths to follow. Two good recent examples - Thursday Erin baked a whole bunch of cookies for work, and many were still out (and they smelled SO good!). I was home alone, no one would know. Did I flinch? No, not really. Almost no force on earth would have made me eat one of those cookies, because the rules were in place in my head, and I was following them. Last night after handbell practice, one of my dear friends brought in some leftover wedding cake from her daughter's wedding, which I attended earlier this year. I had had a piece of this cake at the wedding reception, and it was some of the best cake I'd ever had. Did I flinch? No. The only potential hard thing I might have had to deal with was offending someone by not taking a piece of cake, and having to explain why. But pretty much nothing would have made me want to eat a piece of that cake.

What's going to be the hard part? The reason why I end up in these situations needing to be on diets in the first place? That will come when I've lost all the weight I want to lose. "Eating in the Real World" is what Atkins calls it, and the South Beach book has a similar section. For some people this is much easier than the diet itself - "moderation" is what it's called. Enjoy that occasional cookie or piece of wedding cake, and do a good job the rest of the time. My personality doesn't seem to work that way though. I don't know how to enjoy an occasional treat without the "rules" in my head having to be altered. I don't know how to skip a day of marathon training (I did miss days but they were always for planned reasons). For me the easy part is now. The hard part is yet to come.

15

Life has sort of interrupted my blogging as of late, but a few updates...

On Easter Sunday, we managed to plant almost all of our garden (the nicest day in the last two weeks weather-wise). We took a more minimalist approach this year and didn't do seedlings and just planted the seeds, we'll see how it turns out. Erin is still looking at getting grape vines strung up too.

Very excited about our forthcoming retaining walls, which may not happen now until early June because the weather isn't cooperating, but it's going to be great when they're done. Very ready to get out there and plant trees and rose bushes!

Got to see my two nieces this weekend, and niece #3 who is forthcoming in July :) Not the greatest weather weekend but we did see the movie "Rio" which was just plain fun as far as movies go.

And last but not least...after 7 weeks of faithfully following my low-carb diet, I am down 15 lbs this morning, feel great, and am not having any problems sticking to it. If the weather would ever cooperate, I might even get outside more :)