Maine

Today I had a pleasant conversation with Senator Dennis Damon, the Maine state senator who was the lead sponsor of the recent same-sex marriage bill (which was rejected via referendum just this month). I interviewed him for a law paper that I'm working on for school, and was fortunate to get twenty minutes of his time. I gathered two main things from the interview:

1. It is quite possible to have civil, respectful conversation with people that have different viewpoints than your own. Of course, this requires both sides to be willing to be respectful, even if they disagree. I didn't go into the interview with the intention of starting an argument, Sen. Damon seemed to be a courteous and well-mannered person. He probably knew that I had a different viewpoint since I mentioned I was from BYU, but he was respectful of my beliefs. I think we get the perception from political debates and news programs that people with different views must always be rude and snarky, but I think civil discussion is always possible- if difficult.
2. Politicians respond to their constituency, and are chosen by the people. While certainly there are politicians that make poor choices despite the public's best efforts to choose good leadership, there are many more who do what they do because that is what the people want, for better or for worse. We can't place all the blame on politicians for poor social policy- we also must blame the citizens and interest groups who ask for such policies.

So the final take-home lesson- it's vital to be politically active and support efforts to protect marriage, but it can also be done without being nasty and mean spirited.