If Prop 8 goes, then what's the point of the ballot anymore?

If you have somehow missed the insanely obnoxious amount of media coverage so far this week, the Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday, March 26th in regards to California's contentious Proposition 8 which limits marriage to between one man and one woman. The Obama Administration and gay-rights activists hope the Court will strike down Prop 8 and discover a "new right" in the Constitution granted marriage rights to same-sex couples.

In case these activists and the Court have forgotten, the United States is a Federal Republic. Most people wrongly call it a democracy but they get credit for being close enough. Regardless, the point is that in the United States the people own the government. The government does not own the people. The people have the power.

In California, without a doubt the most liberal voting bloc in the country besides perhaps New York, the will of the people was made quite clear when voters upheld Proposition 8 in a 2008 referendum, a huge blow to liberals and gay-rights activists across the country who felt sure California was a safe bet to strike down the proposition. This was the 2nd time in less than 10 years voters had taken to the ballot box to ban gay marriage. Proposition 22, passed by voters in 2000, had been struck down earlier in 2008. Yet the will of the voters continues to be under attack from an activist, openly gay judge and the Obama Administration.

If the Court ultimately decides to overturn Proposition 8, then we may as well just throw out the will of the power and the power of the ballot. If, with what would more than likely be a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court can just throw out and ignore what the people have now voted for twice, then why do we even let people vote at all? Why do we go around claiming the United States is a democratic system if judges on our courts can just throw out votes they disagree with? This is a state issue and needs to be left to the voters in individual states. The Supreme Court cannot just come in and decide that what voters have defeated at the polls in almost three dozen states is now all the sudden legal everywhere. The people, not the courts, have the power in this country. It needs to remain that way.

Jimmy Williams