This from my colleague David Booth, "What it might mean to let the people decide."
With his characteristic clarity of thought Booth takes up a positive principle of American governance, the separation of church and state, and considers how a popular referendum on "gay marriage" might lead instead to a tyranny of the majority that contradicts fundamental principles of our common government. Quite aside from the substantive issue, which is significant, his analysis offers us opportunity to consider which questions are best decided by which means. That is: are some issues better delegated rather than decided by direct votes by the entire electorate; and if so, which ones?
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