The Road To....Is Paved With

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN): “If Walker says that Proposition 8 in California does not survive the rational basis test, then we need to ask ourselves this question, is he implying then that the majority of California voters who voted for this measure themselves aren’t rational when they took this vote on Proposition 8?“

The road to....is paved with good intentions and irrational thought. Perhaps Ms. Bachmann needs a bit of a civics lesson here. Frankly, I don’t have much of an opinion on the whole uproar over marriage, my live and let live attitudes are pretty much, if two people love one another, are committed to one another and will care for one another then they should be able to marry or civil union or whatever and they should be afforded the same rights and RESPONSIBILITIES as the broader society. Anyhow...back to Ms. Michele and the civics lesson.

By her statement above, I deduce that this duly elected official from Minnesota believes that “we the people” live in a democracy. Majority make a decision and the rest of the folk then must live with that decision without recourse. Well, we live in a republic, majority decide, courts review and insure that majority isn’t denying rights in that majority decision; and if rights are somehow abridged then courts can over turn decision. Sadly, the folk that typically get hung out to dry are the judges; they get accused of activism simply by following or interpreting the law. Ironically in this case a judge appointed by a conservative president. This makes the howling from the right even more interesting and profound.

Ok, so back on track. Consider what MIGHT happen without judicial review or republican ideals...notice the small (r). A majority elect a man with xenophobic tendencies. He wants to build a society-country; strong and vibrant, wealthy, vital and secure in identity. In office without review he passes with impunity irrational laws which aren’t subjected to review; these laws take away basic civil and property rights of the minority within this particular society. The citizenry which elected this leader are helpless after a time to rein him in, the laws become more draconian, more minorities are targeted, whether they be civil minorities like communists or liberals or free thinkers or ethnic minorities like Jews and Gypsies or religious minorities like Jews, Catholics, Lutherans, Jehovah’s Witnesses or moral minorities like gays and lesbians. See what well intentioned voters wrought? They may have even been rational when they cast their votes but the outcome was far from rational and after awhile completely insane.

I’m not saying that we’re headed in the direction of Nazi Germany or Stalinist Soviet Union; I am saying that yes, voters ARE allowed to make IRRATIONAL decisions and then those decisions are subject to judicial review; holding those decisions up to the Constitution to determine of the majority are attempting to abridge the rights of the minority. Maybe Michele should remember this. Maybe the voters in Minnesota should remember this too the next time they vote.