>
>Yes, because I believe in democracy. The answer would be the
>same for the death penalty, funding public libraries, the
>selection of a state senator, or any other meaningful
>decision people need to make.
Not ANY other decision, there have to be limits to what we can tolerate in the name of "democracy". Such limits as are set out, for instance, in the universal declaration of human rights, or the US Bill of Rights.
If the right of a majority to political democracy conflicts with the human rights of the minority, then it must be accepted that fundamental human rights take precedent.
To argue otherwise, as you have done, is to fetishise democracy.
> > Everyone has the right to their beliefs. What people do not have is the
>> right to have their beliefs enacted into law when doing so leads to the
>> persecution of others.
>
>This is a bit slippery. Who gets to decide what "persecution of others"
>is? Opponents of affirmative action claim AA is "persecution of whites".
>Conservative Christians complain of "persecution" by secular culture
>and godless college professors. Who gets the political power to
>decide who is persecuting whom? "We do, of course--because we're
>right". (Blatant ethnocentrism again.)
Human rights are established before-hand and enforced by courts. They can't be enforced by the ballot.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas