The myth of the left's opposition to military interventionStory. A seemingly ceaseless supply of new books and radio talk-show commentary in support of George W. Bush and his foreign policy give the impression that the only controversy in America worth mentioning involves patriotic Bush supporters and knee-jerk opposition to war by liberals.
Two arguments are being made here: that the Iraq War and foreign-policy aggressiveness constitute the self-evidently correct conservative position and that liberals are philosophically and historically squeamish about going to war. The first of these arguments has been addressed at length in these pages. It is the second claim, involving the American Left’s alleged aversion to war, that remains to be overturned, for ever since the Spanish-American War of 1898, leftists have more often than not been at the forefront of calls for American military intervention abroad. CA SC voids gay marriagesStory. The California court sided with Lockyer's arguments, ruling that Newsom's actions would foment legal anarchy and sanction local officials to legislate state law from city halls or county government centers. The Court actually made the right decision, and nobody - pro gay marriage or anti - should object.
They've left the door open for an MA-style ruling saying that the state can't discriminate, thereby allowing the way for the de facto legalization of gay marriage in CA. However, the court COULDN'T let the mayor's actions stand. The mayor broke the law with his actions, and the CASC could not seriously be asked to set a precedent that local government can break and re-write the law as it sees fit. It seems to me - and again, I'm going only on Heather's link - that the court has acted in the only manner it responsibly could, slamming the door on this kind of action, but leaving the door open for a future challenge.
The message from CASC couldn't be clearer: "we aren't against what you're trying to do, but you can't go about it this way". No elected official should ever, ever in my opinion, be allowed to arbitrarily change the scope of their own powers or their terms of office. And that goes to local mayors, State Governors, Congressmen, Presidents, and most particularly, Judges.
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