Saturday, May 17th 2008
Civic Ignorance
In a sadly true sentence, the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
But the Republican governor’s stance on same-sex marriage has been curious and confusing to many people.
This is only confusing if you understand the structure of the United States government less than an Austrian immigrant, which apparently is true for the vast majority of Californians, including the supposedly well-educated ones who hang out on college campuses.
Arnie’s view has been pretty much consistent. California banned same-sex marriage via Proposition 22 in 2000. As such, he vetoed the legislature’s attempts to overturn it, because the legislature is subordinate to the people in terms of legislation. The people’s legislative powers, in turn, are subordinate to the Constitution, but if the Constitution prohibits Prop 22, then it was up to the judiciary to determine that (as it did).
Note that Arnie’s own opinion didn’t matter in that construction. If you recognize ideas such as separation of powers or structured government, where each aspect of the government has a specific role, then Arnie’s view is the obvious one.
On the other hand, if you view every branch of government as just one more place to get your way, rather than an entity with a specific job to fill, then you’ve been complaining about Arnie’s anti-gay hatred for the past few years and/or are calling him a hypocrite right now.
Since you’re so great on second-guessing duplicious RINOs, tell me please what moved Ahnuld to ban .50cal rifles.
Comment by Pete Zaitcev — 5/17/2008 @ 4:08 pm
“Just so you’re aware, I won’t be blogging at the Cal Patriot blog. I’m just managing it. (If I wanted to keep blogging, I would’ve kept Beetle Beat!)”
can’t get enough of yourself, can you?
Comment by Anonymous — 5/19/2008 @ 3:43 pm
I guess not. I’m holding down the fort while the new folks get started. You have no idea how many Beetle Beat posts I’ve passed up.
Comment by Justin! — 5/19/2008 @ 3:49 pm