Well, one of my favorite "freebie" papers still keeps publishing articles and letters on the torpedoed Marriage Amendment, so I keep writing letters in reply!
Citizen petitions are not mob rule. The Constitutional Convention wasted valuable legislative time because the Governor and legislative leaders refused to allow the Marriage Amendment to come to a vote. They only acted when forced to by the Supreme Judicial Court, and even then they kept delaying the vote until enough arms were twisted to achieve the Governor's favored outcome. Consequently, they allowed public swimming pools to remain unrepaired and unopened during the hottest days of summer, consistent with their general neglect of thornier problems like our bridges. As Wendell Woodman pointed out yesterday, these same legislators are trying to blame their egregious mismanagement of the Big Dig on a glue manufacturer for not demanding to know exactly how a customer was using a small order for a general purpose adhesive. So while I understand how it seems odd to today's letter writer that the legislature is being asked to cut itself out of the amendment process, that may be the only way they can discipline themselves to focus on their real job: serving the voters in practical ways instead of rewarding the Governor's campaign donors.
1 comment:
The glue order may not have been so small after all. Either way, the legislature glibly leaves governing to commisions and the four most liberal justices on the Supreme Judicial Court. But, in their defense, what can they do when the Chief Justice learned everything she knows about democracy under the oppressive reign of apartheid in South Africa?
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