And I Think It's Gonna Be a Long, Long Time

(you are supposed to sing the title in the voice of a closeted Elton John)
      I was on Buzzfeed yesterday (because that's where i get my news do not judge me it could be Fox) and I saw an article titled "Illinois Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Repeal State Marriage Equality Law" and I was shocked. I has been so proud to live in a state where anybody could marry whomever. But, this isn't the only place where people's rights are coming into question. There is of course all the drama going on in Utah, the most conservative state. And it makes me mad, honestly, last night I was fuming about why people couldn't just get over the fact that a guy's gonna marry another guy or a woman's gonna marry another woman. What's the big deal? Is the world going to end? Will the sun explode? 

No, no, not Melissa Etheridge, save me!

      As I was laying in my bed, grumbling, I realized that maybe this shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, if I really thought about it, America does not have the best history of social justice.Granted, we are better than some places (ahem North Korea cough cough) but we still are a long way behind a lot of the western European countries like Finland and Sweden. Using my limited skills of addition and subtraction, I'm going to tell you why, and together, we all can do third grade math.

Look it's even culturally sensitive clip art

    Let's say that the U.S. became a country in 1776. Technically, we weren't called the U.S.A yet, but we had officially told Britain that we were going out to go live on our own and cook ramen every night, so I'm counting that as us becoming our own nation. Now, we had slavery up until 1865 which was oh, about 100 years after the U.S. was founded. Then, fast forward to the civil rights movement. If you wan to be picky, this hasn't ever really "ended", but officially we could say around 1970. That is about 200 YEARS after this country was founded that we finally decided "Oh, I guess skin color doesn't mean much except that it's a different skin color because that's all it is." And women's suffrage? Yeah, it also took us nearly 150 YEARS to get the vote and I could go on a feminist rant but I know someone who does that and it annoys the cannoli out of me
     So yeah, judging by all that, In guess it make sense that the LGBTQ rights movement is taking so long.
    

Million Dollar Bills

     Who's representing you? who's representing us? Surely it must be people who have our best interests in mind and know how to relate the middle and lower class. Right?

     Wrong. apparently, as of an analysis of a study conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics(CRP) more than half the people in congress are millionaires. In the House there were more millionaire Democrats and in the Senate, more Republicans. The CRP said that the median net worth for all the lawmakers in congress was $1,008,767-an increase for last year.

Courtesy of: NJNewsroom

     So now, honestly 'm not surprised the trouble we're in sometimes. I could go on a rant about House of Cards (which is fantastic and melodramatic and I do not care) but laws and bills are, in the end, put on this earth by American people- people with brains and hearts and lives. I have to wonder though: what would happen, if one person were to make a promise that they could keep, if one person could be realistic and honest, if one lobbyist could do something right, what would happen then?