John Krehbiel
Privacy Looms Over Gay Rights Vote – NYTimes.com
by John Krehbiel on 1 November 2009
Ignore, if you can, the issue for which people were signing the petition. The question is interesting.
I had always assumed that signing a petition was a public statement of support, and as such, not private. But must we always risk retribution when we support a political position? The signers of the Declaration risked their lives and their property when they signed, which is why John Hancock so famously signed so boldly. Must we always be willing to take such a risk to support what we believe in?
I see merit in both points of view.
Privacy Looms Over Gay Rights Vote – NYTimes.com.
2009-11-01 » John Krehbiel
1 November 2009 @ 10:28 am
It is a hard issue. On the “keep it private” side you don’t want bullies to run the country. On the “make it public” side, you don’t want laws created on the basis of biases people aren’t willing to defend publicly.
1 November 2009 @ 11:01 am
On reflection, I think that when a person goes into the voting booth to express their opinion, privacy is the reasonable expectation. When someone wants to advocate a particular point of view with an aim of influencing others, then they ought to be willing to do so publicly.
Would we want campaign adds with supporters wearing bags over their heads?
The bullying issue is a big one though. It is ridiculously easy for a tiny minority to shout down any public discussion and create the impression that there are a lot more of them than there really are.
1 November 2009 @ 5:32 pm
Isn’t it interesting that the worst bullying seems to come from the Left these days? Even at the Tea Parties it was SEIU thugs doing real violence. In California, there was violence, vandalism and loss of livelihood for those who publicly supported Prop 8. At Columbia University, student groups used violence with impunity to silence Project Minutemen speakers.
1 November 2009 @ 5:58 pm
I would characterize the “tea party” rallies themselves as bullying. Certainly the so-called Town Hall meetings were bullying.
1 November 2009 @ 9:17 pm
How were the tea parties bullying? They were just protests? By that standard everything the left does is bullying.
1 November 2009 @ 10:15 pm
Nothing is more patriotic than dissent when Bush was President, but now that the annointed one is in, it’s racist bullying.
Grandmas expressing their fears at Town Halls is bullying. Criminals assaulting speakers at Columbia is just vigorous protest.
3 November 2009 @ 3:37 pm
John, I agree it’s not an easy issue, but I have to disagree with your conclusion here in the comments. This is why: Those petition signatures are necessary for the ballot measure to come into existence. It’s as necessary a part of the democratic process as voting is.
So, I’m fine with campaign contributions and other sorts of unnecessary to the democratic process aspects of politics being public information, in fact I support that in most cases, but when it necessary for the measure to pass, then just like voting, it should be private.
Otherwise the argument for public disclosure would apply just as much to voting and if there’s something that is clear, democracy depends on a private voting box.