We Have Fought A Good Fight

We voted! Yesterday was my first time voting in a general election. I was one of the 3% in CA that voted for Alan Keyes as president. He supports marriage between a man and a woman, is against abortion and wants to annihilate the income tax. I didn't vote for McCain because I don't agree with his war policies and his economic/tax/health plans. I didn't vote for Obama because I don't agree with his abortion and marriage views and his finicky ways. So I found what I feel was the best medium. And I can say that I helped make history, too, because Alan Keyes is black.

Jeremy voted for McCain mostly because his policies were supposed to help the food industry more than Obama's, so considering that's our income, Jeremy felt it a great need to vote for McCain.

Our Fight for Prop 8
The presidential election wasn't as exciting or nerve wrecking as fighting for Proposition 8, which was the measure to restore traditional marriage in California. Right now, 99% of the votes have been reported and it is 52% YES, 48% NO. This means that:

• Every vote made a difference
  
• The $85 that we gave to the campaign and the 100+ hours that Jeremy and I spent collectively walking door to door, rallying, calling voters, blogging, educating friends, delivering signs, attending meetings, and getting out the vote truly made a difference.
• Your support, no matter how meek, made a difference. Thank you!!
  
• The voice of the people is more powerful than 4 court judges, several multi-million dollar corporations, unions, celebrities, and biased media that all tried to keep this Prop from passing.
  
• We can trust the virtue of our people over the cunning ways of the rich and loud.
  
• Faith without works is dead. It wasn't enough to pray that voters would consider the future with Prop 8. We had to work to make it pass.
  

Interesting facts about Prop 8 results:

• Arizona and Florida also voted that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Both states passed this measure with flying colors.
  
• Las Angeles county had 100,000 more votes for YES than no.
  
• Orange county, where we live, had 57% YES and 43% NO. Can you imagine if we hadn't done anything?
  
• Nearly all of the coastal counties in northern California voted No.
• All southern California counties voted YES, but one
• Nearly all of the inland counties in California voted YES
• When the Campaign began, we were losing by 20 percentage points. By educating voters and prompting them to think about the long-term effects that allowing gay marriage would have, we made a huge come-back.
• Most of the other propositions, the presidential vote and the legislative votes took favor by the democrats. But Prop 8 stands apart from these votes. That proves it's possible to be a democrat and support traditional marriage.
  
• Unfortunately, Prop 4 did not pass, which means that parents don't have the right to be notified before their child performs an abortion. I wish that I had YES on 4 signs with my YES on 8 signs. But once again, this shows that we have to work hard for a cause, and when we do, the efforts pay off.
  

Highlights of our Experiences throughout the campaign:

• Practicing our "script" together in the car 5 times before we knocked on the first door in our neighborhood to tell people about Prop 8 and record their views on the issue. That was back in August! We were so naive then.
  
• Realizing after the first 10 doors that we needed to get our sources right if we were going to sound convincing.
• Being cussed out by several complete strangers on my blog.
• Arguing with Jeremy about how to record what the neighbors say and which route we should take on the street.
  
• Watching funny, disturbing, threatening, false, and moving u-tubes about Prop 8.
• Attending the Church broadcast about how to support Prop 8. Feeling the strong sense of urgency from our leaders to truly do everything in our power to preserve the family.
• Getting the nasty note on our window attempting to cover up our sign.
• Figuring out by trial and error how to put those rickety signs in the ground.
  
• Cheering whenever we found a car with a Yes on 8 bumper sticker.
• Delivering a sign to someone that was on the lawn with his friends and denied ever meeting me or saying yes on 8. What a dope for giving in to peer pressure.
  
• Seeing our friends on some of the u-tube ads and preservingmarriage.org videos.
• Figuring out how to spell ad after sending a note to a news station and Jeremy making fun of me for spelling it wrong!
  
• Participating in Sunday school discussions on how today is the time when people call good evil and evil good, esp with gay marriage.
  
• Surfing the internet during dinner and every sitting moment to correct false information in articles and blogs.
• Telling Riley and the twins about how much we are fighting for their future and how frustrating it is that so many people were mean to me about Prop 8.
  
• Enjoying healthy discussions with other bloggers that disagree with our stance.
• Laughing and crying with Brooke about the latest No on 8 arguments.
  
• Getting the finger and mean shouts while waiving signs with the Nilsson family.
• Being thrilled every time anyone would say they are voting yes.
• Constantly regretting that we didn't say such-and-such about this-or-that while at the door or on the phone with someone.
• Crying on my birthday for fear of the world my children will live in.
  
• Gorging on yummy snacks and gormet food made by volunteers while we walked and called.
  
• Meeting people from other churches and waiving signs with them.
• Realizing at the door with a stranger that we went to the wrong house to deliver a sign, but ending up having an awesome conversation, committing him to vote yes, and giving him a bumper sticker.
• Hearing about the abuse done by No on 8 including our friend that was beaten up while chasing after his stolen prop 8 sign and a lady at church that was pushed, hit, and kicked while walking to her car after putting some signs up in a public place.
• Meeting two funny, slightly drunk, loud ladies while walking door to door one day. They were so fun to talk to and said they would vote yes, but since they were felons, they lost the right to vote!
• Being hung up on.
  
• Getting angry at three voters who said they would vote yes, but wouldn't get to the polls because they didn't want to put their shoes on or because they were eating dinner!!
  
• Watching Rick get a citation for walking next to the on-ramps to put up prop 8 signs.
• Listening to our neighbor boy (6 years old) explain that marriage is for one boy and one girl, not two boys or two girls. He declared, "I'm voting yes on 8!!"
  
• Feeling my heart pound before entering the voting booth because I knew my vote would be crucial. It felt like taking a test, luckily I had my cheat sheet with me for all of the other Propositions.
  
• Feeling defeated, but working with every last ounce of hope to do our part.
• Having someone mad at me for calling to ask if they've voted, telling me to take them off their list. HELLO! As a registered voter, any campaign has access to your info. We can't take you off our list unless you un-register. Duh!
  
• With palms sweating, frantically dialing the last few phone calls before the polls closed.
  
• Saying our final prayer with the 110+ volunteers at our post that spent election night calling thousands of voters to make sure they voted. As President Ward prayed, it was a solemn assembly.
• Looking in near-disbelief at the polls. YES was in the lead!
• Feeling our heart sink every time the percentage for yes dropped. 57 down to 52.
  
• Taking a deep breath before I post this, trusting that 1% of the votes won't do anything to change the outcome. California, and America, we DID IT!!
  

My Final Statement on Prop 8
Throughout this campaign I and many others have been called intolerant, shameful, liers, hateful, satanic fascists and bigots because of our personal and/or religious beliefs. I can't understand how people can demand that I be tolerant of their views and yet refuse to be tolerant of my views.

I can confidently say that I have been loving, accepting, and kind to those who believe that homosexuality is acceptable. I know and believe that they are good people, but they are strayed on one basic element of humanity and eternal purpose. All I ask is that they respect my beliefs and realize that it is not hate speech to testify that marriage is between a man and woman and that maintaining this definition will preserve and strengthen the fundamental structure of society: the family.

We have fought a good fight. But we know that this was just one battle over truth. The war for protecting families, protecting truth and religious freedom still rages on. "Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till... the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." -Joseph Smith