Maine
Apparently, there was an election yesterday and Maine decided to reject same-sex marriage laws.
The reason I bring this up is because of the updates I see circulating around facebook, most notably along the lines of: The majority shouldn't be deciding the lives/rights of minorities!*
The United States is a (representative) democracy. If I understand my political theory correctly, a "democracy" is rule by the majority. It doesn't seem inappropriate for the majority to dictate to the minority, in this case regarding same-sex marriage. Unfair, perhaps, but not theoretically inappropriate.
*I'm arguing the syntax used, not the sentiment.
1 comments:
Quoting Judge John Scheb's textbook An Introduction to the American Legal System via Wikipedia: "the United States relies on representative democracy, but its system of government is much more complex than that. It is not a simple representative democracy, but a constitutional republic in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."
I haven't ever studied law, of course. My understanding of the technical details of our government come from school classes, family discussions, and general cultural knowledge (wherever that comes from :)).
But I figure quoting some judge has to at least be better than my random recollections, eh? :)
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