aatombomb

Maine. :(

ohhleary:

jaimeleigh:

“What these academic treatises ignore is the concern that Madison and others had that what they called the tyranny of the majority was legitimate. A majority, Madison predicted, often whipped up by demagogues, would oppress a helpless minority, a group so naturally small it could never hope to protect itself at the polls alone—using the government to deprive them of those aspects of life fundamental to a free society. No kidding.”

— Get Gay Marriage Off the Ballot - The Daily Beast (via tenrewnna)

Agreed. 100%.

Voter initiative is not an expression of democracy; it is an expression of tyranny by the people. In a true representative democracy, if the opponents of gay marriage were truly disgusted by Maine’s passage of a gay marriage law, they should have voted out supporters of the bill in the next election.

Of course, they know that this would never work. NOM and Focus on the Family and the Catholic Church don’t have the infrastructure to funnel millions of dollars into the coffers of 109 individual local races for the Maine House and Senate. They would rather gather signatures from a small minority of the total voting bloc, place a question on the ballot statewide, and then spend money to oppress a small minority that the state legislature voted to defend.

Legislature is how law is supposed to be made. This system is broken.

Notes:

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    Right, well, voting to fill an elected office seat is different than a referendum. And I think that policy decisions...

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    Additionally and somewhat tangentially, we live in a democracy democratically elected REPUBLIC. We vote for people to...

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    I agree about getting gay marriage off...road. If you do, someone will point out

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    ) Agreed. 100%. Voter initiative is not an expression of democracy; it is an expression of tyranny by

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