living in a bubble

I read the national news, so of course I know that here in California, we live in a bubble. We have higher emission standards than the rest of the country, we have fresher and more organic produce, we have an Asian population of over 12%, we think high-speed internet is a basic utility, and we vote for Democratic presidential candidates.

I didn't fully realize until recently that the Bay Area is a bubble inside of a bubble. In the last few weeks, I've been bombarded by "No on 8" messages: via personal e-mail, in chat/twitter statuses, on Facebook, on mailing lists, etc. A few of my friends have in fact become very passionate and articulate about reminding people to vote "No on 8". (Incidentally, none of them happen to be gay.) I've heard many people express disappointment that such a measure could even have made it onto the ballot.

Then I read the news, and I am amazed to hear that Proposition 8 is currently projected to be "narrowly" defeated. See, I live in such a bubble that I can't comprehend how it can even be a close contest. Here's hoping it's not...I would love if California set a great example for the country on this topic.

(Being a lazy permanent absentee voter, I already did my part last week.)