Illiberal Democracy

To borrow the title of Fareed Zakaria's book, the passage of Proposition 8 in California was a textbook case of what he called Illiberal Democracy. Direct democracy is usually not better democracy, especially when the majority is voting on rights for a minority. That is, instead, the tyranny of the majority.

Liberal democracy puts safeguards into place for the rights of minority groups. The State of California has failed its gay and lesbian citizens.