Demagogue

Not surprisingly, Schwarzenegger has announced he's going to veto the civil marriage bill that was recently passed by the California legislature. But what is a little peculiar is the justification his office gives for his veto.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said the governor opposes the legislation, passed Tuesday night by the California Assembly and last week by the state Senate, because he thinks the matter should be decided by California's courts or its voters.

Geez, it's a little hard to win this game if everyone keeps moving the goalposts. He wants it settled by "activist judges"? I thought "judicial activists" were a bad thing? And didn't the people of California elect those people in office who passed the bill? Isn't that how a representative government you know, like, works?

Yes, yes, I know by referring to the voters she's likely talking the 5-year old Prop 22 where a "family values" man who had a gay brother and gay son pushed for an anti-gay ballot measure, the Knight Initiative. The initiatve was intended to prevent California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. (At the time there weren't any.) However, like many controversial ballot measures, the grassroots campaign that were used to convince people it was necessary was largely based on lies, fears and propaganda. (For instance, telling people that if the Knight Iniative isn't passed that churches that don't perform same-sex weddings would be penalized and fined by the state.) Ballot measures are not a rational (or fair) way to resolve a controversial issue such as marriage, especially taking into account that Prop 22 was passed in an off-season vote by about 20% of eligible California voters. It's not hard to imagine how different our country would be if every controversial civil rights matter were resolved by state ballot iniatives. (Yeah! Mob Rule rules!)

My question for Arnold is this-- isn't vetoing a bill that was passed by the elected representatives of the people thwarting the actual will of the people? Does it matter to you that those elected people represent a lot more people than the voters who voted for Prop 22 over 5 years ago? Or is Arnold just a girly man with sagging popularity who is afraid to take a stand on a tough issue?