California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rode into the governor's office on nothing but celebrity and an actor's persona of courage and resolve, has announced that he will avoid making any actual decision at all -- least of all a principalled decision -- and will veto the marriage equality bill the elected legislature recently passed.
Schwarzenegger said the legislation, given final approval Tuesday by lawmakers, would conflict with the intent of voters when they approved a ballot initiative five years ago. Proposition 22 prevents California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries.
"We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails that vote," the governor's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said in a statement. "Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto (the bill)."
As KipEsquire points out, however, the legislators who voted on the marriage bill were all elected by the California electorate subsequent to the Proposition 22 initiative.
[E]very single legislator involved in the same-sex marriage vote Tuesday night, regardless of how they voted, was elected by "the people" after the Knight Initiative.
Clearly, "the people" changed their minds.
Therefore, the idea that this "activist legislature" acted contrary to the will of "the people" is the worst kind of nonsense.
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