I take great exception at the possibility of the California Supreme Court in striking down the recently passed “yes on 8” referendum. I understand that emotions are running very high on the “no on 8” supporters, however I feel that by pressuring the Supreme Court to decide this is huge mistake and will create many more problems than it will solve.
First, it is my belief that the court system of the United States, including the State and Federal Supreme Courts, have no business deciding cases dealing with ideology. Their commission is to strictly decide if something is constitutional based on the Law not on ideology. If in the State of California a referendum is sent to the people for a vote, which might be in violation of the State Constitution, then that referendum should never have come up for a vote. Obviously someone is not doing their job if it does. Be that as it may, if its voted on and the majority of the people vote for it to pass, then it has to pass.
By nullifying the peoples vote (particularly state and federal) you are basically telling millions of Americans that their votes don”t count. That they have no say. If that”s the case what makes our “democracy” any different from any other country (including 3rd world dictatorships) where the masses have no say in government and thus are at their mercy.
This is not what our country stands for. I didn”t spend 20 years of my adult life defending the Constitution and the people of the United States to have a few individuals (in California”s case four judges) to nullify the will of the people. I don”t care how “smart” they think they are, they”re not that smarter than millions of people combined, nor should they have that power. If they are able to do that successfully than what”s to stop anarchy. If the will of the people is to be thwarted in this way then our government is a sham. That being the case, why should I obey it.
I”m sure most of those who are angry over the passage of “yes on 8″ also voted for Al Gore in the 2000 election. Set aside your anger for a moment on this issue and how did you feel then when the U.S. Supreme Court interfered with such a volatile issue. Ruling with ideology rather than by law. Now fast forward and you can see where this is leading. All this being said there is a solution. I don”t approve of it in regards to referendums because I don”t feel the axiom of “if at first you don”t succeed, try, try again….” is appropriate in this forum. However, until it”s changed it does exist. By this I mean if winds of public sentiment change in the future, where it becomes in favor of gay marriage, then let the people decide. If the current referendum is repealed at a later date by popular vote, than it will have to be accepted.
However, as it stands now, “yes on 8″ prevailed in the last election and it should become the law. It is the current will of the people and they have spoken. You can change it at a letter date if you can sway public sentiment. But please, don”t ask the Supreme Court to change it, all I can see that is doing is to escalate hatred and violence.
Steve Finch
Middletown
