It's nice to know that there are still parts of this country not only where people feel comfortable standing up for the rights of others, but where it's also the politically
sensible thing to do. This week, Schwarzenegger did the sense
less (and cruel) thing by
vetoing the gay marriage equality bill passed by both houses of the California legislature.
But CA gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides really lays the smackdown on the Governator in one short paragraph (PDF):
By vetoing the Civil Marriage and Religious Freedom Protection Act, Governor Schwarzenegger has come down on the wrong side of history. Governor Schwarzenegger had the chance to enter the pages of history with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson; instead he has chosen to be listed alongside George Wallace and Strom Thurmond. Just as Wallace, Thurmond and many other segregationists came to regret their errors, I hope that Governor Schwarzenegger will come to change his views.
Damn straight. Sometimes, there's no way to know which way history is ebbing and flowing. But when it comes to civic equality, our nation has continually (if fitfully) expanded civil rights. From the 19th amendment to the Voting Rights Act to Loving v. Virginia and beyond, the sphere of equality has continued to grow.
I am not some starry-eyed optimist - I have not forgotten Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Jim Crow. And I know we have a lot of work left to do. But I can also sense which way the winds of history have been - and still are - blowing. And it's not in a direction favorable to Arnold.
Wallace, Thurmond and their ilk were not just racists but fools for not realizing they were going to be left in history's dustbin. Schwarzenegger is making the same mistake, and kudos to Angelides for being unafraid to point this out.
[Cross-posted from the Swing State Project.]