"Dollar for dollar, Maine is the cheapest way to deliver a stinging defeat to the Wingnuts this year"

"It's easy to silo issues and to view the Maine campaign solely as an LGBT campaign. But, it's more than that. It is about generating momentum for the progressive movement."

-- Jesse Connolly ("a straight ally who believes strongly in equality for all"), campaign manager for "NO on 1/Project Maine Equality," blogging Friday on OpenLeft

by Ken

The quote at the top of this post comes from our friend Lane Hudson, who's referring of course  to the upcoming referendum in which the forces of darkness are pouring shitloads of money into Maine to try to persuade voters to repeal the law passed by the state legislature legalizing same-sex marriage. (I understand that Lane is going to be guest-posting about it here this weekend.)

It's getting down to the wire, and there's a lot of nervousness now. As "NO on 1/Project Maine Equality" campaign manager Jesse Connolly points out in the OpenLeft blogpost quoted above, "The same cast of characters is running the same campaign in Maine that succeeded in California."

The loons and thugs of the Far, Far Right, as you've no doubt noticed, seem to have forgotten their ancient mantra about keeping government off people's backs. On their issues they want government all over people's backs. I have to guess it's the rigidity hatefulness and misery of their own parched existences that make it so desperately important to them to do everything in their power to force their notions of proper conduct on people who think frankly that they're full of it.

As we've pointed out frequently here, one exceedingly terrible thing about this referendum movement is that it's legitimizing the idea of putting people's basic rights to a vote. A true democracy has to be irreducibly committed to respecting and protecting the rights of its minorities, and unfortunately putting those rights to a vote tends to have the opposite effect. For all sorts of unfortunate reasons, too many people are all too willing to strip away other people's rights.

Anyone who reads DWT probably doesn't need to be told that the Far, Far Right right now feels that it's fighting for its life, and will do anything it can to continue bullying other people into being told how to live their lives. To allow them to defeat us in Maine would be a nightmare for the personal rights of all Americans. Whereas a victory in Maine, as Jesse Connolly notes above, would provide a much-needed morale boost as well as a momentum-builder for pushback against the rampaging bigots and theocrats, as Jesse Connolly,

That's a pretty stark contrast. Then factor in Lane's brilliant formulation:

"Dollar for dollar, Maine is the cheapest way to deliver a stinging defeat to the Wingnuts this year."

If you want to help, you can contribute much-needed dollars to the "NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality" on our ActBlue page. You can get more information and look for other ways to pitch in -- there's a Volunteer Vacation Program, and I've been hearing that out-of-staters are eligible for phone-bank service -- in Jesse Connolly's OpenLeft post and on the NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality website.


A NOTE FOR NEW YORKERS (AND BOSTONITES TOO)

There's a local fund-raising event coming up, on Thursday, October 1, with "special guests" including Reps. Barney Frank and Jerry Nadler and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

(Perhaps I should have said "for rich New Yorkers." I actually checked out the prices this afternoon and discovered that the $250 tickets are sold out, but you can still buy in for $500 or $1000. If you're feeling more generous than that, you could also be a "sponsor" or a chair" Gulp.)

There's also a Boston event, on Tuersday, October 6.

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