just say no

A message to my fellow Californians:

 

While sitting with some friends and acquaintances, a member of the group urged everyone to vote "yes" on Proposition 8.  "Because if it's not passed," she warned, "you can get sued for being opposed to gay marriage."  I struggled to hold my tongue while my internal monologue went into overdrive.  Other people's questions brought forth this explanation: unless Proposition 8 passes, gay marriage will be legal in California, and if you tell someone you're opposed to gay marriage, they can sue you for hurting their feelings.

 

I sat there, blinking madly, unsure whether to laugh, cry or defect to a country where only people with a modicum of common sense are allowed to vote.  Really?  Unless Proposition 8 is passed, freedom of speech will cease to exist in America?  OMG, are you serious?!

 

I am opposed to ballot initiatives.  All of them.  California has a taxpayer-funded, full-time legislature.  Legislators (and a slew of legislative staff) are paid to draft laws.  They're paid to ask and answer questions such as, "How much will this cost?"  "Who will implement/enforce this new law?" "If we direct money to this program, what other programs will lose funding?" "Is this law or its implementation constitutional or will we end up in litigation for the next 10 years?"  "Can we afford to take this on in light of the state's current fiscal situation?" 

 

Let the professionals do their jobs.  Would you want an amateur mechanic to repair your engine?  Or a hack doctor to remove your appendix?  Imperfect as they are, elected legislators are accountable to the voters, who can boot them from office.  There is no recourse against the special interest groups -- many of them from outside California -- who fund these ballot initiatives.  (If you are aware of any, please enlighten me.)

 

If you don't have the desire, the time or the inclination to read through each ballot initiative, assess the constitutionality and understand the fiscal impact (including the effect on other programs funded by tax dollars), you're in good company.  But the right thing to do is to vote "NO" and maintain the status quo.  That's right, if the "no" vote prevails on a proposition, it simply means things stay the same for now.  It doesn't mean that a law can't be passed in the future on the subject.  It just means that the proposal that you didn't read and don't understand won't become the law of the state at this time. 

 

And please do not, under any circumstances, base your vote on TV commercials. 

 

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.