What a Girlie Man!

Arnold Schwarzenegger showed no leadership or toughness today when he had his press secretary announce that he will veto the same sex marriage bill. Bob Egelko, from the Chron, argues that the Governator is vetoing it because it conflicts with Proposition 22, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

I was debating this with Yehudster yesterday, and concluded that Schwarzenegger would veto it to further curry favor with the GOP. Yehudster noted, as well, that he would turn off the Latino vote when up for re-election.

I find, above all, the reasoning for vetoing this bill to be really flawed. Since when did we dumb down Democracy to mean a straw poll vote of the people. If we merely make laws based on what people think or want, then we could end up with some real nightmares that would also be unjust laws. Part of participating in a democracy means advocating for your position and trying to convince the populace of the wrongheadness of their views. Otherwise, democracies would be rather stagnant.