The first blog I ever followed was Bashman's. I loved the information but over time became annoyed at the politics, which are conservative in a banal sort of way. Rather than provoking or challenging, his politics serve only to muddle otherwise good work. Hoping to avoid the same mistake, I have tried (often struggled, against my inclinations) to limit the amount of political writing here, especially when it isn't directly related to issues of sports and gender.

But I don't have anywhere else to write, so today I'll break the rules again. Tune out if you like.

I am essentially despondent today, not so much from the loss as the manner and means of it.

This election should have been about the war in Iraq and the war on terror, however that is defined. The debate about how to win (and what winning means) should have been paramount. Some argue that President Bush has the firmest commitment to democracy in Iraq and the best chance of quelling Islamo-fascist terrorism. I don't agree, but with my knowledge so limited and my beliefs so tentative, I could hardly have complained if 51% of the country had chosen re-election for that reason.

The same could be said for other issues -- taxes, the environment, the deficit, Social Security, tort reform, health care... maybe even the composition of the courts.

But we didn't lose on those issues. We lost on gay rights. When asked what was the most important issue to them, more voters said "moral values" than any other issue -- more than the war, more than terrorism, more than the economy, more than health care. And 80% of those values voters chose George Bush.

In Ohio, large numbers of voters turned out to because they thought it was important to vote for an amendment (styled "Issue 1") to their constitution banning not only same-sex marriages but also civil unions. They turned out because they apparently thought that it was essential, for some reason, to prevent gay couples from having legal visitation rights, inheritance rights, and the like. In a battleground state that is said to be fairly representative of our nation, Issue 1 passed by a margin of nearly 2-to-1. (And while they were at it, the folks in Ohio gave their electoral votes to the candidate who shared their moral values.)

Plus ten other states, mostly by huge margins. Plus Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint. &c.

It looks like opposition to gay rights may have been the single most important factor in this election. To me, that reality is as stunning and unexpected as it is dispiriting.

I don't know if there's any good response. Recriminations will begin in the Democratic Party, and many will urge that we must veer right -- and abandon gay rights -- to re-capture some of the blue-collar social conservatives in swing states.

I don't want any part of that. Using the law to mark other citizens as inferior may be an effective political strategy, but it is also wrong. If that's what it takes to win, I'd rather lose.

I will hold out hope for a generational change, and in the interim, I will try to change a few minds. If that fails, I will fall back on solipsism -- I have a few acres of pine forest, I have several cases of good wine, I have a hot tub, I have basketball (Wolves won tonight, Sara's rec league team lost but played great).

And I have friends in same-sex couples who are married, no matter what laws you pass.

You can't touch me.

UPDATE: see above.