There is every indication to believe that gay marriage will be struck down by the voters in Maine as it was in California, and some will claim this is democracy in work, but such is not the case. The United States has a Republic form of government. (Tell this to Fox News and televangelists.) The people elect representatives who enact laws. The elected Maine legislators passed a bill making gay marriage legal as did the law makers in California.

This Republic form of government protects the land from people who are ignore of our Constitution and people who are trouble makers who stand to gain from stirring up people on emotional issues. (Fox News, the KKK, and the Mormon Church come to mind.)

To show how wrong it is to allow people to vote to strike down unwanted laws, there would never be a politician of color if the emotional people had their way. In my part of the USA African Americans were denied by local laws their Constitutional rights to vote for one hundred years. In the state of Virginia it was illegal for straight people of different races to marry until late in the 20th Century.

If it is right to over turn state laws in the poll booth, then the people of Maine should be asking their governor to put paying state income taxes, property taxes, and all state fees on the ballot and see if the people will not vote these down, too.

When people are as emotionally atwitter as they are these days with conservative news channels and fundamentalist churches ranting at them, it is not wise to let human rights be an issue on the ballot. Putting the gay marriage on the Maine ballot is the same as putting taxes on the ballot. One leads to moral bankruptcy, and other to other financial bankruptcy.