As government teachers routinely remind students, the United States is a representative democracy. The Founders were worried about excessive ?majoritarianism??which they equated to government by mob rule. Representative government was their solution: we elect people to make decisions, because most of those decisions require deliberation, study and expertise. Citizens retain control by reserving the right to vote those same people out of office if we decide they aren?t making good decisions.
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A Dangerous Year
The most serious potential consequence of this backlash is the proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The President and a number of members of Congress have expressed support for such an amendment. (They can read the polls, although the evidence would suggest they can’t–or don’t–read much else.)
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Out From Under the Rocks
As the local readers of this column know, I also write a twice-monthly column for the Indianapolis Star, devoted to civil liberties and public policy issues. From time to time, I use that forum to comment on issues involving sexual orientation, civil rights, the recent Texas sodomy case, and most recently, the Massachusetts marriage decision. Whenever homosexuality is the subject, I can expect lots of negative responses–more often than not, anonymous.
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Witness
My religious tradition does not have a counterpart to the Christian concept of’ ‘witness,’ but as I understand it, witnessing implies an obligation to stand up for righteousness and truth. To bear witness is to speak out against injustice, to call attention to wrongs, be they civic or moral. It is an effort to bring us back to first principles.
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Defending Marriage
There’s an item making the rounds of the internet purporting to express the reaction of Henry VIII, founder of the Anglican Church, to Church blessings of same-sex unions: "Henry VIII, and his wife Catherine, and his wife Anne, and his wife Jane, and his other wife Anne, and his two wives named Katherine, are appalled at this attack on the sanctity of the institution of marriage!"
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