House of Eratosthenes

Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can be voted down…but it might go to court over it. It thinks you can be reasoned with. It feels pity, remorse, fear, phony compassion, and tons and tons of guilt. And it might stop, before you are dead. Maybe. Or it might maybe undo you.

Doesn’t have the same ring as Kyle Reese’s classic line, does it?

And yet, the killer robot that “absolutely will not stop, EVER, until you are dead!” engaged in such a spectacular display of wishy-washiness, that a better example I do not believe I have ever seen:

In an appearance Sunday on CNN, [California Gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger said the state Supreme Court might overturn Proposition 8, the Los Angeles Times reported. He also said it is likely Proposition 8 will have no effect on the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages already recorded in California.

“It’s unfortunate, obviously, but it’s not the end,” Schwarzenegger told CNN. “I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area.”

The comments seem to represent a change in Schwarzenegger’s thinking, the Times said. In the past he has said he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman, but he has also said the matter should be decided by voters or the courts and he opposed Proposition 8.

How un-Terminator-ish can you get. He goes on to say backers of same-sex marriage should “never give up,” which fits into the theme of chasing Sarah Connor down until she’s dead, dead, dead. But then again, are the voters deciding this or aren’t they?

The courts have no business intruding on this one. None at all. You might as well declare it unconstitutional to swear in a new President because he’s been palling around with a long list of America-hating asshole friends of his.

How outrageous this is, might perhaps be lost on someone from a different corner of the union…and this is the innernets, with all geographic boundaries rendered obsolete, or mostly so. So let me give some background.

This would still be an outrage, even if the electorate had not voted properly on Proposition 8…which they damn well did. It’s an outrage because our referendum process is an enormous joke in this state. Every election cycle, bond issue after bond issue after bond issue is thrust in front of the voters by gutless politicians who don’t want to take the heat. And then it’s up to Joe Six-Pack in the voting booth to figure out if $165,000,000 is too much for the state to spend on a new water supply system, or light rail system, or raise for the prison guards. On and on it goes. This year, we had, I think, fourteen of these beauties, and that was an exceptionally light year.

I think it’s fair to say the situation’s gotten ridiculous when most people are flipping coins over these matters. And really, California’s there. Been there for awhile.

But nobody, on either side, was flipping a coin over Prop 8.

We are seriously strapped for cash here. Our state is. It raises taxes…businesses move out. The tax receipts fall short, and so the state raises taxes again. Lather, rinse, repeat. We have no damned business spending good money to put propositions on ballots, and then when the votes come back in some way contrary to the wishes of some grand high muckety-muck like our Royal Terminator Governor, deciding hey, that doesn’t count. If it doesn’t count, save some nickels then…don’t put it on the ballot. Don’t ask the question if you didn’t want the answer.

But generally speaking, when a high-profile politican such as Arnold says something, and the FARK kids start going giddy about it and repeating it over and over again, we’re looking at a new meme we’ll be seeing echoed in the years to come. In this case — CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES SHOULD NOT BE DECIDED BY VOTING. Maybe.

It’s a good thing, for the sake of this argument, that we’re well past the point of deciding anything according to intellectual honesty and logical consistency. Because intellectual honesty and logical consistency are not friendly to this one. If a class of people possesses an attribute that deprives its members of one or several options under our laws, as they now exist, that is a violation of civil rights…and perhaps this should place the matter into the courts auto-magically, with the popular vote of a specific region having absolutely nothing to say about the matter.

Okay. As a dude, I want to have a say on when pregnancies should be continued. Personally. If I get someone pregnant, I want a legally-binding, equal vote. It’s unfair that I’m deprived of this just because of my sex. If you say no, you’re depriving me of my civil rights.

It’s exactly the same logic.

Exactly.

Nope, it doesn’t work that way. Men don’t get pregnant. Homosexuals aren’t “married,” if this is contrary to a regional culture. One-legged guys don’t have a right to kick butts. Women can’t pee in the snow and write their names. Some of us are missing options that are available to others…and that’s just the way things are.

In fact, if every class of person could do everything every other class of person could do, then the classes would lose all meaning. And this is the very last thing desired by those who choose to make an issue out of such things…over and over again. Now, go away. If the people have spoken about President-elect Obama, then surely they’ve spoken about same-sex marriage.

Especially when you consider that free and frequent elections are the best way to promote civil rights.
- JohnJ | 11/10/2008 @ 10:21
I’m sick and tired of the unending issue of “gay marriage.” The people have spoken on this. Twice. Enough already. Is there some part of “no gay marriage in California” that the no-on-8 types aren’t getting?

We’ve been over this a million times. There’s no “civil rights issue.” There’s no “discrimination.” The government isn’t in the business of making sure that every last weirdo and pervert has legal sanction for his/hers personal sexual preferences, especially not when enacting such would overturn thousands and thousands of years of human tradition for no reason at all….none other than “Well, you can’t give me a good reason why gays SHOULDN’T be able to marry!” Yes, I can. Because it’s not done, that’s why. It’s like asking why you don’t put bombs under police cars or run naked through rush-hour traffic.

I’m tired of this issue. I’m even more tired of the more fundamental problem – of some judicial activist coming along and saying, “It doesn’t count.” I kept waiting for Morgan to decry the fundamental unjustness of having unelected judges gut some ballot measure that the people of California passed fair-and-square, but he spent most of his post making (valid) arguments against bond measures instead. (If it makes you feel better, Morgan, I live just up the street from you and I think I voted no on all of them except the one for veterans’ housing.)

I’d like to see a law passed in this state that stipulates when the people have voted something up-or-down, that is the end of it. No court decisions, no contrary laws passed by the Legislature, no executive orders from the Governor….the will of the people is binding and final.
- cylarz | 11/11/2008 @ 03:34

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Democracy’s Fair Weather FriendsMonday, November 10th, 2008

Democracy’s Fair Weather Friends
Monday, November 10th, 2008