One step back

Not totally unexpected, but I am still deeply disappointed that the California Supreme Court ruled to uphold Proposition 8. I cannot think of a time in the history of our nation or another in which the deliberate rolling back of civil rights for a disfavored minority was favorably viewed by posterity, and I hardly expect it to start with this decision. This injustice will be undone one day, but our children who will have to do the work to undo it will be understandably frustrated and embarrassed by our prejudice, just as I was frustrated to be the generation that had to undo anti-sodomy laws and embarrassed at having to apologize for internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. I am eternally hopeful that our judicial system will step up to its obligations as a long-view branch of government that is supposed to check the will of the people when necessary, but that wish is often futile.

If I have said it before, then it deserves to be repeated. Pure democracy should be given no role in civil rights in the United States or any other modern civilization. The concept that the majority should be allowed to impose their will to directly suppress the minority is anathema to our core values as a nation. As our society comes to appreciate that certain classes of people have been denied their full range of unalienable rights, we should make every haste to afford those rights. Not in spite of the fact that our ancestors have denied those rights, but because of that. If that makes you uncomfortable, then your duty as a citizen is to get over it.

The heart of the matter

What I don't know about Canada's government could fill a large book. I should probably get around to reading that book someday. But from my partially uninformed opinion, I thought that it was hardcore to have Michaëlle Jean as head of state when the Queen is not in Canada. That regard was tarnished to a significant degree when Her Excellency failed to perform one of her rare non-ceremonial duties and didn't stand up to the Prime Minister's highly dubious power-grasping shenanigans over this past winter.

Today, that regard is rusted clean through, with the story that seems like someone accidentally crossed their wires and dropped a story from The Onion into the news feed that Ms. Jean gutted a baby seal and ate its heart, evidently in protest of EU bans on hunting methods. Alas, if she wishes to be in solidarity with commercial seal hunters, then I will agree to think of her as I think of them.

How do you know you're on the wrong side of an issue? There are no hard and fast rules, but a really good sign is when Wonderella and I are in complete agreement.