But more important are whether or not it has a chance of passing and whether or not it enhances our freedoms or protects o[u]r rights. This meets none of these criteria.
I don't think those are criteria that should be considered by the legislature; it's not up to them to "protect" me from things like this. If, to use an absurd example, 95% of the Commonweal felt same-sex marriage should be banned, it is not their reps' job to say, "No, sorry, we know better and won't give you a chance to vote on this one."; in fact, it is explicitly not their job. If that is what's going on, if the legislature doesn't trust the people to vote the "correct" way, I hope said legislature gets the boot the next election.
If you feel it has no chance of passing and, thus, would be a waste of people's time, I go back to my statement about it being important. To have the a referendum vote say, "We, the people of Massachusetts, overwhelmingly say that same-sex marriage should be legal here" is much more powerful than, "We got our legislature to block attempts to get this on the ballot."
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 05:44 pm (UTC)I don't think those are criteria that should be considered by the legislature; it's not up to them to "protect" me from things like this. If, to use an absurd example, 95% of the Commonweal felt same-sex marriage should be banned, it is not their reps' job to say, "No, sorry, we know better and won't give you a chance to vote on this one."; in fact, it is explicitly not their job. If that is what's going on, if the legislature doesn't trust the people to vote the "correct" way, I hope said legislature gets the boot the next election.
If you feel it has no chance of passing and, thus, would be a waste of people's time, I go back to my statement about it being important. To have the a referendum vote say, "We, the people of Massachusetts, overwhelmingly say that same-sex marriage should be legal here" is much more powerful than, "We got our legislature to block attempts to get this on the ballot."