McCarthyism

I have been really furious to hear about what is going on in California regarding the Proposition 8 vote. Scott Eckern, former artistic director of the California Musical Theater, was pressured to resign because of boycotts that had been called for on the theater, because Mr. Eckern had the audacity to give $1,000 to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. Marjorie Christofferson, manager of El Coyote restaurant, has come under fire for the cruel act of giving $100 to the effort to maintain the definition of marriage as it has existed from time immemorial until just now. Several websites like this one have gone up listing the name and employers of people who gave money to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. Note that these people gave personally to the campaign, and websites like this one have been started by people who got the list of donors and dug up information about where they work and put it out on the internet, with the purpose of boycotting the businesses that are run by these people. Interestingly, and hypocritically, the owners of the websites are anonymous.

This is absolutely unacceptable and it's not the way things are done in this country. When people have a disagreement politically, they argue their values and ideas vigorously, and then when the people have spoken, the loser concedes that his side has lost in the marketplace of ideas, accepts the result, and goes on with life. Men of good will can disagree on the merits of Proposition 8, but I don't believe men of good will can disagree about the unacceptability of the tactics being used by some in the No on Prop 8 camp. I can totally empathize with those on the No on Prop 8 side, but apparently some on the No on Prop 8 side cannot empathize with people like me who wish to preserve the definition of marriage. They're like little children throwing a tantrum because they lost the game.