First the problem with gay marriage, apparently, was that it was being imposed by unelected judges. (Never mind the fact that the judges in Massachusetts were appointed by an elected official.) It should be decided by an elected body, the legislature, gay-marriage opponents said. Now California’s legislature has approved gay marriage, and what do opponents say? That the legislature “subverted the will of the people.”
What does Schwarzenegger say? That it should be decided by court decision. Or by a vote of the people. Talk about passing the buck.
In 2000, Californians passed Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, with 62 percent of the vote. It’s been working its way through the courts. According to the Times, “several Republicans… said Democrats who represented districts where voters approved Proposition 22 had no moral authority to subvert that vote.” One Republican assemblyman said, “History will record that you betrayed your constituents, and their moral and ethical values.”
Interesting question: should the legislature have taken Prop 22 into account?
This raises the question of the role of a legislator. As a legislator, you’re supposed to keep your constituents’ wishes in mind. But if that was the only role of a legislator, there would be no need for legislatures. A legislator is also supposed to have an eye toward the public good.
But this raises the question of what the public good is. Is the public good what “the people” think it is, or what the legislatures think it is? Is it the collective private desires of the people, or is it something outside the realm of, and greater than, private interest? As for the 62 percent of Californians that passed Prop 22, were they voting out of private interest or out of their sense of the public good? We do have a conceit that legislators have a greater sense of the public good than “the people” do, since the people supposedly focus only on their private interests.
Anyway, this will all be moot if, as expected, Schwarzenegger vetoes the bill. Schwarzenegger is a democratically-elected governor and is as much a part of the democratic process as the legislature. That’s why it’s lame of him to pass the buck.