I live in California. It is a state populated largely by those (and the descendants of those) who have bravely left their homes and jobs to travel great distances in search of new opportunity. It is a state commonly touted as embracing of change.

Case in point: four years ago, California voters overwhelmingly passed a bold initiative legalizing marijuana use for medical purposes, only to be told by the Supreme Court and Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey that we "didn't understand we were voting for."

[A quick note on etymology: Czar, sometimes Tsar, is a Russian word that carries a legacy of cruelty, shame and oppression. Whether benign or despotic, Russian Czars exercised totalitarian rule. Their sole purpose was to accumulate wealth and power, typically at the expense of the peasantry. To do so effectively meant to fear and despise the common man and his voice. So it's no small irony -- and maybe no accident -- that the top drug office in the United States of America carries a title antithetical to the ideals of democracy and our Constitution. At the very least, I'm sure it gives the Russian mafia a hearty chuckle as they load their next shipment of Persian.]

But I digress. My point, in retrospect, is this: Herr Dopemeister McCaffrey was right.

He wasn't right about medical marijuana, of course, but he was right about California. We don't understand what we're voting for. Doubt me? Last Tuesday -- "Super Tuesday" -- Golden State voters spoke with a thud, nearly guaranteeing that we'll inaugurate one of two vapid establishment blow-up dolls as President of the United States in ten months. As if that weren't shameful enough, we also decided to pass a law that denies gays and lesbians the right to legally marry.

Yes, I'm talking about Al Gore, a man who plays the pork-barrel game like a seasoned whore works a software convention. Gore never met a compromise or quid pro quo he didn't like; he has and will continue to bend like a reed in a hurricane to pass anything he can call his own. Like his pimp (er, boss) of the last eight years, his so-called commitment to education is vastly overshadowed by his unshakable allegiance to the booming jail industry. And you want hypocrisy? Gore chuckles nostalgically about his bong-hitting salad days (he even inhaled), and in the same breath defends his administration's hefty contribution to the laughably inept and inhumane "War on Drugs." Though he's managed to coddle the Pottery Barn liberals with his pro-environment facade, the truth is plain: Al Gore's constituency is Al Gore.

And, yes, I'm also talking about George W. Bush, the kind of smarmy little fraternity prick who'd blackball you for wearing the wrong blazer to the tailgate. The kind of empty-headed son of privilege who'd crib slogans from better-qualified rivals in the race for class president, and lock down the office with a promise for kegs at lunch. How any sentient human being could actually choose "Dub" over John McCain without succumbing to waves of heaving nausea seems at first blush to be one of life's great mysteries.

At a second glance, though, it's really not that hard to fathom. Whether in love, politics, or the simple act of driving to work every day, most people are driven by fear. We choose mates and friends who won't challenge us to look within ourselves. We construct routines, sacrificing breadth of experience for safety and predictability. And we choose leaders who remind us, if only vaguely, of administrations that we survived.

Republicans are naïve enough (or lazy enough, perhaps) to believe that Dub Bush isn't George's son, but his clone and moral equivalent. Sure, he hoovered some blow up his chimney, but those were the days of disco, and a lot of good Republicans were on the smash-mouth back then, right? Hell, they might have even been Democrats. Hey, honey, where's my checkbook?

What are these people afraid of? For one thing, John McCain. McCain disputes the notion that what's good for General Motors is always good for America. Even if only incrementally, McCain chose to embody change, which flies in the face of the very idea of conservatism, at least as practiced in contemporary, special-interest government. He overestimated his party's fear and greed, and he's paid the price.

As for the Democrats, they're naïve (or lazy) enough to believe that Gore is Clinton without the sex addiction, and that he really cares (see above). And what are Democrats afraid of? Republicans.

Apparently, given the overwhelming majority that supported Prop. 22, they're also afraid of queers. That's right: a huge hunk of registered California Democrats actually voted to deny homosexuals the right to marry.

Forget for a moment what an egregious violation of the separation of church and state this moral legislation represents, and forget for a moment what 66% of Californians seemingly have -- that sexual preference is as genetically determined as skin pigment or hairline. Consider simply that in a state that ranks first in prison cells per capita and 41st in education spending, someone found the idea of homosexual marriage so profoundly unsettling that they felt compelled to ban it.

I do know that, for all of their faults, the people I have met in and around improvisational music have the most open, tolerant, and brave hearts I've ever known. Most of you, even in your adolescent years, have understanding that far exceeds that of your parents. Music has done its part to reveal certain truths to you, but truth can be a blessing and a curse. It sets us free, but it binds us to act on it at the same time. It asks us to face our fears.

I won't preach about voting, even if you're from California. I'm no model citizen, and frankly, I'd rather see a small, well-informed electorate than a booming, ignorant one. But more importantly, democracy isn't something we ought to practice once every two years. Freedom demands more vigilance than that.

Prop. 22 is proof positive that the agents of fear are active in our democracy. They don't just vote; they set agendas, and they're slowly backing good people into a corner of complacency and silent subversion. So as the general election approaches, be aware, be open, be honest, and if the spirit moves you, be bold.