A revolting legislature

Most battlegrounds are chaotic, and the battle for America's soul now under way in California is more so than most.

Some five years after 61 percent of the state's voters convincingly slammed the door on same-sex marriages, the California Legislature approved them last week - making you wonder what part of "no" lawmakers there don't understand.

The politics these days is as confusing as the sex in California, and that's saying something.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has little choice but to veto the bill, given the fact that it runs contrary to the people's will as expressed in March 2000's Proposition 22 that says "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Did we just not notice the added clause saying "unless lawmakers decide otherwise"?

Militant gay sniping aside, the "technicality" - if the people's expressed will can ever be called that - gets the governor largely off the hook. Thanks to the legislature's arrogant decision to try overturning the people's will, Schwarzenegger really doesn't have to decide this case on its merits - and have to choose between the social conservatism and the social liberalism that not only coexist in California but in his own politics.

Meanwhile, with Proposition 77, voters have a chance in November to take away lawmakers' power to draw their own districts - and one report says the gay marriage outrage may convince many voters that allowing lawmakers to draw their own districts has only "filled the Legislature with ideologues who can ignore the popular will."

The gay marriage issue isn't the only one the California Legislature is out of control on. Voters in November also will decide Proposition 76 to put spending limits on a legislature that can't live within the state's means. The proposition has trailed in the polls - until now.