"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Prop 8 Suits (Updated)

From one of Andrew Sullivan's readers, a succinct summary of what it's about:

So, just to help you think about this a little more clearly: Prop 8 stands for the idea that we could put on the ballot tomorrow the question of whether Catholics could marry. We could also put on the ballot the question of whether someone with HIV could vote or own property. We could put on the ballot the question of whether mexican catholics can be discriminated against in housing or employment.

This, of course, is the "Christian" right's goal: to put everyone else's rights up for popular referenda. I've been saying it all along: the people do not have unlimited sovereignty in this country, never did, and unless the Christianist alliance is successful, never will. This is the fundamental lie being spread by those who keep nattering on about "the will of the people": the will of the people is subject to the limitations imposed by the Constitution. That's the whole point of judicial review, which of course is one the first things the right wants to do away with, but only on those decisions they don't like. Regrettably for them, it's difficult to predict those ahead of time.

I'm not going to go into how stupid and short-sighted this is, because the Dobson Gang, while shrewd, is not, as a group, very intelligent, and they are most definitely short-sighted. They're banking on having a permanent majority of wingnuts, which any fool could tell you is a pipe dream. There's no such thing as a permanent majority in this country -- thanks to the will of the people, which is as fickle as anything else in this life.

The right is already making threats about what they will do if the court overturns Prop 8. It's up to us to pull their teeth.

Footnote: This is the AFA's idea of a Christmas decoration, which seems terribly appropriate. It does look like it's burning, doesn't it?

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