On voting for bigotry...
(Prompted by thoughts on a newspaper article about North Carolina's recent decision to narrowly define marriage on religious terms as a part of their state constitution):
Prop 8 passed in California with 52% of the vote FROM THOSE WHO VOTED-- in an election which had maybe 25% turnout of eligible voters... One of the real disgraces is how few Americans actually get off their asses and VOTE! Just like a lot of election results, a minority is actually making the decisions because most of the sheep can't be bothered to get out and speak for themselves.
For many of these decisions-- and I can't help thinking maybe NC's decision to support further bigotry was decided the same way-- everyone who DIDN'T vote, is every bit as much to blame as those who voted for the measure, because they sat idle on voting day and let it happen.
Now, as others have noted-- human rights weren't meant to be decided solely by majority rule in this country-- the men who wrote the Constitution understood the potential problems inherent in that system and referred to in political texts as 'tyranny of the majority'-- but, it's almost pointless right now to bring that up without bringing up the point that we don't even have a majority making any of these decisions-- the 'silent majority' has remained speechless (and voteless) for decades...
Prop 8 passed in California with 52% of the vote FROM THOSE WHO VOTED-- in an election which had maybe 25% turnout of eligible voters... One of the real disgraces is how few Americans actually get off their asses and VOTE! Just like a lot of election results, a minority is actually making the decisions because most of the sheep can't be bothered to get out and speak for themselves.
For many of these decisions-- and I can't help thinking maybe NC's decision to support further bigotry was decided the same way-- everyone who DIDN'T vote, is every bit as much to blame as those who voted for the measure, because they sat idle on voting day and let it happen.
Now, as others have noted-- human rights weren't meant to be decided solely by majority rule in this country-- the men who wrote the Constitution understood the potential problems inherent in that system and referred to in political texts as 'tyranny of the majority'-- but, it's almost pointless right now to bring that up without bringing up the point that we don't even have a majority making any of these decisions-- the 'silent majority' has remained speechless (and voteless) for decades...