Prop 8, Abortion, and the Will of the People

[Doctor Pedantic]

Here's something that drives me nuts about the whole argument that "the Supreme Court overturned the will of the people, who overwhelmingly passed Proposition 22." The "people" are not a static group. Prop 22 was eight years ago. Many people who voted have since died. And more importantly, anyone who is now between about 18 and 26 -- a demographic group that is strongly in favor, as a whole, of marriage equality -- was not even old enough to vote when Prop 22 was on the ballot. What about their "will"?

As for the "activist judges," last time I checked, a majority of Americans support a right of privacy, and believe that abortion should be legal. Yet the same folks who are foaming at the mouth about the fact that "activist judges" ignored the will of the people in supporting major equality want McCain to win and appoint Supreme Court justices who will overrule the will of the people and overturn Roe v. Wade. Yet I'm sure they could not possibly acknowledge their own hypocrisy.

I remain cautiously optimistic that Prop 8 will be defeated. And I am hoping that it will be a crushing defeat, so the haters and bigots will come face to face with the fact that it is not the "will of the people" to enshrine discrimination into the Constitution. If it is a close vote, even if we win, they'll be back. If there is an overwhelming expression of the people's "will" in favor of equality, while it won't shut the bad guys up, it will at least take away just about the only argument they have made that is not overtly hateful and bigoted. The more the foes of equality are exposed for the horrific people they are, the better.

[SidneyCarton]

1. You raise a good point.

The will of the people is malleable. For this purpose, the California referendum system is a good thing, as it allows for a return to social issues years later, allowing the people to decide for themselves whether or not they still hold the same values. Either way, the results of this proposition will give us a good idea of how the people of California think.

[Name removed]

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