Bush Supports Constitutional Amendment Banning Gay Marriage, Distorts Meaning of Democracy
President Bush used his radio address this weekend to lend his support to the Marriage Protection Amendment, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. This paragraph stuck out:
A constitutional amendment will put a decision that is critical to American families and American society in the hands of the American people, which is exactly where it belongs. Democracy, not court orders, should decide the future of marriage in America.
This statement is endemic of a larger problem in the Bush administration – the failure to recognize the judiciary as a co-equal branch of American democracy. Courts are tasked with enforcing laws that are the will of the people, as expressed through the legislative and executive branches.
President Bush has every right to support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. But, in doing so, he is no more a supporter of democracy than those who would leave this question up to the states.
Maybe before we start amending the constitution, we should brush up on basic civics.
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