Retaliation against the other side

Gay activists are taking revenge on Californians whose votes took away their right to marry. They are interrupting religious services–especially targeting Mormons–issuing threats, publicizing names of people who gave money to the anti-gay marriage cause and harrassing them, hurling racial epithets at black people who overwhelmingly voted against the measure as they came to the polls in record numbers to vote for Obama. (The majority of white people supported gay marriage.) See this news report:

The backlash against those who supported a ban on same-sex marriage continues to roil California and nearby states.

Protests and vandalism of churches, boycotts of businesses and possibly related mailings of envelopes filled with white powder have followed the passage of Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

In Sacramento, a high-profile theater director resigned from his job of 25 years after a boycott threat over his $1,000 donation in support of the measure. In Los Angeles, a Mexican restaurant owner, a Mormon who donated $100, was reduced to tears and left town after hundreds of protesters confronted her at work, by phone and on the Internet.

“You express your beliefs and you have to be punished for it?” said Arnoldo Archila, an employee at the El Coyote restaurant. “This is not right, not in this country. This is not Iraq.”

See also What Happens If You’re on the Gay “Enemies List” – TIME, which quotes gay activists saying that while people have a right to vote the way they want, they have a free speech right to create consequences:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opponents say donated more than $20 million to the Yes on 8 campaign, has already become a focus of protests, with demonstrators gathered around Mormon temples not only in California but across the country.

The Mormon Church is not the only group being singled out for criticism. African-Americans, 70% of whom voted yes on Proposition 8, according to a CNN exit poll, have become a target. According to eyewitness reports published on the Internet, racial epithets have been used against African-Americans at protests in California, directed even at blacks who are fighting to repeal Proposition 8. Said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, “In any fight, there will be people who say things they shouldn’t say, but that shouldn’t divert attention from what the vast majority are saying against this, that it’s a terrible injustice.” (See the Top 10 ballot measures.)

In addition to protests, gay activists have begun publishing lists online exposing individuals and organizations who have donated money in support of Proposition 8. On AntiGayBlacklist.com, individuals who gave money toward Proposition 8 are publicized, with readers urged not to patronize their businesses or services. The list of donors was culled from data on ElectionTrack.com, which follows all contributions of over $1,000 and all contributions of over $100 given before October 17. Dentists, accountants, veterinarians and the like who gave a few thousand dollars to the cause are listed alongside major donors like the Container Supply Co., Inc. of Garden Grove, Calif., which gave $250,000. “Anyone who steps into a political fight aimed at taking away fundamental rights from fellow citizens opens themselves up to criticism,” said Wolfson. “The First Amendment gives them the right of freedom of speech and to support political views, but people also have the right to criticize them.”

Also, some progressives want to put President Bush and members of his administration on trial for policies they consider criminal, including for war crimes.

This mindset of the victors retaliating against the losers, or the losers retaliating against the winners can quickly bring the end of both democracy and liberty.

The Roman Republic fell largely due to the nasty custom of winners of elections prosecuting the former officials. Julius Caesar refused to step down from his consulate because Pompey’s faction had all kinds of charges ready for him as soon as he did so. Therefore, Caesar refused to give up power. Instead, he brought his legions across the Tiber, defeated Pompey and the Senate, and, in effect, overthrew the Republic and began the rule of Emperors. Thus ended a constitutional, representative government that had lasted 450 years, far longer than America’s experiment has.

And losers punishing political winners is a kind of extortion and intimidation that can thwart and manipulate democratic participation. Doing so is a crime against democracy itself. People must not be punished because of their political beliefs, either by the government or by other citizens. There can be no free speech right to enact retribution against people for exercising their political rights. Voters and democracy itself may need further legal protection.