The Crossed Pond

Mitt Romney reacts to the Massachusetts legislature’s action on gay marriage:

They then showed Mitt Romney objecting that “they could either take the decision away from the people or they could give the decision to the people, and the state legislature of Massachusetts decided to not allow the people to vote on the definition of marriage.”

Romney’s proposed answer to this refusal to allow “the people” to choose was that “we need to have a Federal marriage amendment … because states like Massachusetts will take the course they did.”

Just so we’re clear: the Massachusetts legislature has erred by taking the decision about whether gay marriage should be legal out of the hands of the people, as only the people’s direct decision through referendum has legitimacy; therefore we need an even MORE distant legislative authority to impose a blanket ruling on gay marriage upon ALL jurisdictions, for the sake of direct democracy.

And given the mechanics of the amendment process, Romney evidently believes that the anti-democratic practices of state legislatures, such as that of Massachusetts, can be resolved through a process that would involve a vote of…state legislatures.

I think I need to go lie down for a minute.