Prop 8 Banned Gay Marriage, So Let's Ban Propositions

I was so busy congratulating ourselves and the world on Obama's stunning victory that I passed over the one thing that thoroughly pissed me off: the passage of California's Proposition 8. Speaking of the undeserved power of a mean-spirited and now demonstrably diminished minority in this country, could there be clearer evidence that it still exists? What a blemish on the name of our otherwise moderately liberal -- and fair-minded state, that we have allowed this hate-based measure to pass.

I expressed my anger about this to a gay friend at the gym, and he spoke glumly of the gay community as being "the most hated minority in America today." I actually find that hard to believe any more. Especially amongst the younger generation, such things as race and sexual orientation seem to have little interest or influence on the way they think or live their lives. My sense of this particular abomination -- as Ellie rightly calls it -- is that it was promoted and skillfully managed as a political issue by a very small minority of bigots, many of them Mormons, I've been led to believe.

Another friend -- not gay -- responded to my previous post about Prop. 8, before the election, begging fellow-Californians to join me in rejecting the initiative. "I vote 'no' to all Propositions, being a firm believer in representative vs. popular democracy," he wrote me, "and will continue to do so until presented with a proposition to end government by proposition, at which time I will happily vote 'yes'!" Nicely put. I came to much the same conclusion myself at the time of the passage of Proposition 13, the first public manifestation of what came to be called the "taxpayer revolt" that propelled Ronald Reagan into office and started the anti-tax landslide that continues to bury the possibility for responsible government until this day.

I trust that our Obama will lead us toward that "kinder, gentler" country promised by the first Bush, and that he will re-introduce a sense of responsibility and accountability not only to our society but to the government that is supposed to represent it.

Comments

[mswete]

I completely agree. While there are some good propositions, such as Prop 2 which was set to improve conditions for livestock, there are some really terrible ones, such as Prop 8. But that's not even the real reason we should ban propositions all together. The real reason is because of propositions that require taxpayer money to fund. I was talking to my dad about this, and he explained that we pay these lawmakers to come up with a budget, and then all of a sudden we're going to toss in something that will throw the budget off balance? Now, don't get me wrong, I voted for Prop 1A to allow money to be used to partially fund a high-speed rail in California and if I was to go back I would vote for it again because of the jobs it creates allow it to eventually pay for itself. However, most of them are just blank checks and thus should be done away with. Anything like this should be brought up in the legislature and be appropriately put into the state's budget.

[luke150]

it should be at least qualified majority. You can't change the US Constitution with simple majority, so why the states are different?

[PDinCA]

I'm with you. I hate the proposition system in general, and the ability to amend the constitution by a simple majority is pure madness.

[justmeerin]

absolutely.