Propostion 8: My reaction

Since late-Spring/early-Summer, much of my attention had been concerned mostly with national politics. As state and local politics go, I usually vote no on most ballot measures because I am usually against needless bonds and new spending which reflect upon the taxpayer, unless of course I have some sort of compelling interest upon the issue. Prop 8 came to my attention late in the game and as I heard both sides' arguments, I remained on the fence with the issue of same-sex marriage in the state of California.

After a long discussion about Prop 8 with my friend as we stumbled from a pub-crawl, I was struck by his comment: "the government has no business in people's bedrooms." In hindsight, it seemed a bit rhetorical, but all that aside, what caught me was the notion of "no business" aspect of the government's role. My libertarian side soon pushed me off the fence. I realized that, no matter who you are, the government should have no authority over who you marry. As I recall, one of our founding fathers, Patrick Henry once said, "[The Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." As so, on November 4th, I voted no on the measure. Lo and behold, and without any surprise (remember eight years ago?), the measure passed and much anger would ensue.

Not from me, but from the anti-eight protesters. The next two days, West LA saw wide spread protesters from the Wilshire Federal Building to the Moron Temple. Although it was labeled "peaceful", some bad seeds destroyed property and toppled police cars. Now, if you wish to express your first amendment rights go right ahead, but remember to respect others and their property (and if you're stupid enough to mess with the LAPD, you have bigger problems). What angers me is the outright disrespect and childish behavior of these individuals. What I mean is that the voters made their choice and the protests were a knee-jerk reaction, almost pre-meditated, admitting no respect or understanding of our system of general elections.

Immediately, the anti-eighter's are going back to the state supreme court to find a way to legally overturn the vote. What is wrong with this picture? A lot. But mostly this; I find it very disturbing that appointed judges have the authority to overturn the majority. This leads to a minority backed by the government dictating what is right and what is wrong. Now you might be asking "how is this passage of Prop 8 equal in the first place?" By challenging the will of the majority undermines our democratic system. If the courts overturn the amendment in our state constitution, it is as if the vote of 52% of voters didn't count and they might as well have thrown away their ballot.

The answer isn't in the courts, it is in the populace. Try again next time and keep working on a sucessful and convincing campaign. I will later post how I feel this issue can be solved, possibly.