Why can't the voters vote for moral issues?

Question

If politicans cannot have a bill put in front of them that they can vote for one issue and one only, how can he/she vote for what I feel is extremely moral? Why cannot abortion, gay rights, discrimination, womens lib, and so many other issues be put on our ballots for us to vote on as individuals? Our politicans are supposed to vote as we want but they are not allowed in many cases because of all the extras that are put into voting issues. It is because of this factor that we should be able to have more cruital issues put on ballots for us to vote on as individuals. Do you want to vote on these issues as an individual?

Answer 1

I'm not clear on exactly what you're complaining about. It appears that you want for more issues to be put to a direct vote of the people because in legislatures -- you think -- there are too many moral issues not being addressed because of how the system works.

First of all, under our U.S. Constitution, we do not ever have any national referendums at all. If that's what you want to accomplish -- a national referendum on abortion, gay marriage, whateverelse -- then we'll first have to amend the Constitution to say that there will be such referendums allowed from now on.

Secondly, on the state level, some states do allow referendums and some of the moral issues already have been dealt with in some states. But not in all states. Not all states have state constitutions identical to those of other states and in some states there are virtually never any statewide referendums. New York and Illinois come to my mind as being examples of states in which the perogrative to put issues on the ballot for a statewide referendum is very, very limited. If you're talking about states like that, then you are indeed caught in a kind of catch-22: it seems to be virtually impossible to amend the state constitution to say that you want for more issues to be voted on by popular referendum.

Answer 2

The idea of a democracy is that you have regular opportunities to elect the person you wish to judge on such matters. They can then consider ALL and every fact available on a particular issue and vote accordingly.

You get your opportunity to meet your candidates, and find out what they feel about a particular topic. However, on moral (conscience) issues they will probably have 'default' attitudes. If you are pro-abortion and elect a staunch Catholic, they are fully entitled to vote for abortion if the issue arises in parliament - but you will probably have known they would anyway.

It is a bit of a bummer if your candidate is not elected, and you end up with someone with moral views totally against your own. However, it is better to join a group to campaign for your views - frankly, we have enough to do without tripping off to the polling station more than once a year!

Answer 3

Much of the time the answer is obvious, and does not need a mandate from the people, or it is left to individual choice. Having a general open vote about every issue that crops up would just be too slow and expensive.

We have representatives to deal with such issues on our behalf to speed things up a bit. Sometimes they will vote the way we feel, other times they won't, but the general thrust of their actions should represent our own wishes.

Answer 4

What's moral to you may not be moral to others, and vice versa. In my opinion, politicians or laws are not the route to go about changing the morals of a people. It starts from home outwards, not the other way around.

Besides, the US is not founded on religious morals, it's based on a constitution with secular values (remember separation of church and state), even if it says "In God we trust." That phrase is there to make it sound "religious" but not necessarily religious.

Secondly and most importantly, we need to do something about those lobbyists in Washington. These guys are being greased up to their *@& with corporate money; so how the heck can we expect them to remember us when they're vacationing in Hawaii thanks to Halliburton and company! Lobbying was never meant for corporations, only to public interest institutions.

Answer 5

Because the right wing religious conservative (red state) are so under educated they need to go to something like a 700 CLUB to get their opinion.

Just like the Middle East has IMAN as the religious leader where the public goes there to get their opinion. There are no difference.

You got to have a “thinking” not just an educated mass in order to have true moral and ethic society. The founding father knew that.

Answer 6

Referendums or plebiscites can be held in lieu of the election as provided for in the constitution to vote for issues concerning morality and policies of the state. However, this mode of public expression must be properly initiated by the people to garner at least the minimum numbers for the proper action.

Answer 7

It's too bad but morality can not be litigated. If a person is immoral they are going to do whatever they can get away with.

Morality does not belong to any one party. There are members of both parties totally immoral both sexually, honesty, divorce, as fathers and mothers.

What is disquesting is people like Kennedy even have the gall to voice any judgement on anyone else. Murder, lying about it, letting someone die, messy, messy divorce, alcoholism, adultry, fornication. The list is endless. He is a disgrace and should keep his mouth shut!

Yet, he and his gutter morals are tolerated by the liberals.

Answer 8

~Constitutional issues such as equality of the sexes, women's rights, the right to privacy, abortion, are not subject to the whim of the electorate. Constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot. Passage of legislation that has no chance to withstand constitutional scrutiny has no place on a ballot, either before the public or in the legislature. It's called freedom.

Answer 9

Do you really want moral issues brought up in elections?If your morals are different than mine and I become the next President your going to be a very unhappy camper.Keep politics out of religion and religion out of politics including moral believes because they stem from religious believes.Look to your pastor,priest,rabbi,parents or role model for your moral issues,not your politician.

Answer 10

They can, and they do in most states. For example, gay marriage has gone down in 14 out of 15 states recently, as the people just said no.