Monday, May 19, 2008

Do our votes count or not?

I’m confused. California went to the voting booths and cast their ballots. Propositions were won and lost based on those votes. Who could argue with the will of the people, except to maybe question their sanity on many issues?

While I may not like the liberal bent of my home state, I can, at least, have my say by voting, as is our constitutional right. The fact that the CA Supreme Court, by a 4-3 margin, overruled 61% of the voters and legalized same-sex marriage scares the bejabbers out of me.

Where does the power grab end, and what importance does my vote actually have anymore? What does a majority win mean if a body of seven unelected officials can arbitrarily overturn the results? I think these folks see us as the “little people” who are too stupid to dress and feed ourselves and need Big Brother to step in and do our thinking for us.

“Yes, yes, you squeezy little California voters, we know the majority of you voted against gay marriage, but you simply don’t know what you’re talking about.”

This makes my bellybutton invert. This isn’t about the gay marriage issue, but about hijacking our votes – the will of the people. We are only relevant as long as the Supreme Court allows us to be. Don’t look to Sacramento to help us voters, either. They’re the folks who steal people’s land and give it to developers.

So the next commercial or politician I see who shows off his pearly whites while imploring us to “get out and vote,” my reply might be, “why?”

What in the hell has happened to this country?

4 comments:

#1 Dinosaur said...

Um...

The Supreme Court also overruled the majority who voted for Jim Crow laws in the south. Segregation was clearly the "will of the people."

If a majority of people vote to quarantine people of Asian descent, or exterminate Jews in concentration camps, or demand that religion (for the sake of argument, assume it's not yours) be taught in public schools, should those votes be honored?

They're called "checks and balances," because the majority isn't always right. (Not that I'm criticizing the decision on this particular issue; I have no skin in this race in any sense; just felt the need to weigh in on principle.)

And by the way, people are DYING in Philadelphia daily from rampant gun violence, and there's no way to staunch it because the STATE refuses to pass any gun control legislation at all. Talk about being at the mercy of the majority.

Lynn Price said...

They're called "checks and balances," because the majority isn't always right.
It's that kind of talk that scares the crap out of me because it make us, The People, irrelevant.

"The majority isn't right" according to whom? This country has turned into a bunch of politically correct feel gooders, and I'm scared to bits about the ability of seven unelected officials having the ability to dump my vote into the trash.

#1 Dinosaur said...

Actually, your post above this says it all: the majority said you have to teach those Mexican kids even though you don't speak Spanish, and that you have to promote them even though they haven't learned what they were supposed to. That's what the public said about your public schools, so why did you get so upset? That's what the majority said; deal with it.

You're not trying to say that the majority is "wrong" about something (like teaching?) Are you? If your principal had supported you in what you were trying to do, she would have been "dumping [a lot of] vote[s] into the trash."

Would you vote for slavery? Would you vote for segregation? Would you vote for red-lining neighborhoods? In many parts of the country, people would and have. What recourse do you propose?

Where do *you* draw the line about "right" and "wrong"? Who does get to choose?

Lynn Price said...

the majority said you have to teach those Mexican kids even though you don't speak Spanish, and that you have to promote them even though they haven't learned what they were supposed to. That's what the public said about your public schools...That's what the majority said; deal with it.

Actually, this was never taken to a vote. This came down from the Board of Education. Most Californians had no idea this was going on.

Californians voted overwhelmingly to uphold our constitutional amendment that we are English only, and that was tossed out by our seven unelected officials as being unconstitutional, thereby making our majority votes worthless.

Of course I wouldn't vote for slavery or segregation, but I would have little choice if the majority voted for it. I think you put too little faith in the public and too much faith in our politicians.

What recourse do you propose?

Right back atcha. What would you propose? Anytime you give a tiny body with far too much power a free pass to "know more than we do," we've lost all hope of democracy.

Where do *you* draw the line about "right" and "wrong"?
I have my own sense of what I perceive as being right and wrong and vote accordingly. Since I live in California, my vote is often drowned out by those more liberal.

Who does get to choose?
The people. Frankly, I don't trust politicians any further than I can cow toss them, and I certainly don't want them thinking for me. Why put something to a vote if we don't have the assurance that it'll mean anything?

As it is, we have the Supreme Court hovering over our shoulders saying, "Well, we'll see how this vote turns out and see if we agree with it. If we don't, screw you. Screw the people."

Bye bye democracy.