Should items like gay marriage, domestic drilling, term limits, and abortion. be voted on by the people. Instead of the congress and senate dragging these issues out forever.

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Originally posted by 17keith:
Should items like gay marriage, domestic drilling, term limits, and abortion. be voted on by the people. Instead of the congress and senate dragging these issues out forever.

No way. We saw what happened in 2000 and 2004 when the people where allowed to vote for Pres. They fu cked it up. While the people have gotten smarter (i.e. our last Presidential election), I'd like to see a greater sample of intelligence before the people are allowed to make anymore important decisions.

The question wasn't about the presidential election it was about issues. Please read the question before you answer.

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Originally posted by 17keith:
The question wasn't about the presidential election it was about issues. Please read the question before you answer.

I know Republicans have a bad case of tunnel vision. Please open your eyes and read the whole statement. My first two words were: "No way". I followed up with an example to back up why I felt that way.

So in your eyes people are not smart enough and should not be trusted to vote on anything that will effect our lives. So in the end you would like politicians to make all of your life's decisions.
Actually Bush received the popular vote in 2004. In 2000 the electoral college was called upon to save the country. Also Clinton never received his share of the popular vote.

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Originally posted by 17keith:
Should items like gay marriage, domestic drilling, term limits, and abortion. be voted on by the people. Instead of the congress and senate dragging these issues out forever.

No one's rights should be subject to a popular vote and that goes for marriage equality and abortion in the examples you cite.

I think the issue of drilling should be left to each state.

Term limits - other than the U.S. presidency, I think they're dangerous, especially for the federal gov't. We can't be divesting ourselves of our best and brightest, and most experienced in the name of term limits, throw our federal gov't into chaos, and endanger our country with novices pressed into office enmasse. One Joe Plumber or Sara Palin at a time is enough. 50 woud be a disaster. The best term limit is the vote and I believe we should keep it that way.

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Originally posted by 17keith:
So in your eyes people are not smart enough and should not be trusted to vote on anything that will effect our lives. So in the end you would like politicians to make all of your life's decisions.

I think we should be able to decide some things. Gay marriage and abortion should be decided by the people themselves and the gov't should stay the heck out of it. Drilling and decisions of that nature should be made by the gov't. They have more information on the pro's and cons of such things. We the people can't possibly have enough knowledge on the subject to make decisions like that.

But yet we have the knowledge to elect people that we feel have the knowledge to control our lives.

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No one's rights should be subject to a popular vote and that goes for marriage equality and abortion in the examples you cite.

The reason you wouldn't want gay marriage and abortion to be voted on is that the majority of the people in this country are against it.
And for drilling most people would vote for it.

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Originally posted by 17keith:
But yet we have the knowledge to elect people that we feel have the knowledge to control our lives.

Even a blind dog will stumble across a bone at times.

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Originally posted by 17keith:

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No one's rights should be subject to a popular vote and that goes for marriage equality and abortion in the examples you cite.

The reason you wouldn't want gay marriage and abortion to be voted on is that the majority of the people in this country are against it.
And for drilling most people would vote for it.

The U.S. Constitution has an Equal Protection clause that protects from the tyranny of the majority to eradicate the personal freedoms of other Americans not in the majority. It goes to the very basics of our Democracy and Constitution. Should the Christians of America or in any one state be allowed to vote that Jews and Mormons, and Buddists, and childish couples, red-heads, people taller 7 feet, be banned from marriage? These are the kinds of things that could easily happen without the Equal Protection clause, our Bill of Rights, our Constitution. Our founders understood that if the majority populous had legal authority and right to vote on eliminating the freedoms of one group, and remove those freedoms at will, our democracy would end.

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Even a blind dog will stumble across a bone at times.

Usually the bone is old, used up and dirty.

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Originally posted by 17keith:

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Even a blind dog will stumble across a bone at times.

Usually the bone is old, used up and dirty.

True, but we didn't elect mccain. we elected young, new, and full of hope.

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Originally posted by 17keith:
Should items like gay marriage, domestic drilling, term limits, and abortion. be voted on by the people. Instead of the congress and senate dragging these issues out forever.

Since the constitution does not provide for a federal referendum, it is not possible. Federal laws are legislated in Congress.

States may administer state-wide referendums on those kinds of issues (as we saw with Prop. 8 in CA) and the states' rights to pass laws is restricted only by federal Constitutional limits on government power or other federal preemption.

The only way for the people to vote on constitutional issues (e.g. if gay marriage is held by the supreme court to be a constitutional right, and yet the people disagree) within the framework of our nation's governing documents would be to follow the procedures for amending the Constitution.

Here is some very basic info regarding the amendment process:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blconstamend.htm

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Originally posted by sensei:

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Originally posted by 17keith:

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Even a blind dog will stumble across a bone at times.

Usually the bone is old, used up and dirty.

True, but we didn't elect mccain. we elected young, new, and full of hope.

Your newly elected prez is definitely full of something, but 'hope' is not the word I had in mind.