Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Gay marriage, plebiscites, and the tyranny of the masses

Gay marriage was struck down in three states yesterday: California, Florida and Arizona.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet: the issue of gay marriage should have never been put to a plebiscite.

Democratic governments should work to protect the rights of minorities not by querying the collective (who at the individual level tend to be ignorant of the intricacies of social justice, law and fairness -- not to mention their often prejudicial and reactive nature), but by having accountable institutions (like the Senate) recognize and enshrine civil rights and freedoms within the constitution or a bill of rights.

Otherwise, governments are enabling the majority to lord it over those who need to be protected from exactly that: the masses.

No comments:

Post a Comment