Arab protestors and Americans long for democracy

By Tom Quiner

The Mideast is in chaos. Regular folks there are sick of oppressive regimes and thirst for freedom.

Here in the Midwest, we too long for more freedom.  In Iowa, our elected legislature passed a law a dozen years ago which defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Our judges shot it down. They said they understood what a marriage was better than us regular folks.  They said if we disagree, we need to jump through some new hoops and pass a constitutional amendment to re-redefine marriage the way it has always been.

We said okay and threw out three judges.

The voters want traditional marriage.  So we elected a House that reflects our will.  But the majority leader of the Senate, Mike Gronstal, says democracy be damned. He won’t let our elected officials vote on something we voters think is important. He has the power to prevent a vote on this issue.

Gronstal, a Democrat, has chosen to subvert democracy.

In Wisconsin, Republicans are trying to save their state from fiscal calamity. To that aim, they are asking teachers and public unions to contribute a little more to their healthcare plans and pensions.

The unions say “no,” as do their Democratic lapdogs. In democracies, these things happen. Political parties disagree all the time. They decide disagreements by voting. But not the Democrats. Just as Democratic legislators did in Texas a few years ago, Wisconsin Democrats fled the state so Republicans couldn’t pass the law the people want. You can’t vote without a quorum.

Democrats again subvert democracy by preventing the essence of what makes our system work: the vote.