EDITORIAL OFFICIAL DISOBEDIENCE PUBLIC OFFICIALS MUST UPHOLD THE LAW, NOT FLOUT IT.IT'S easy to sympathize with Verb 1. sympathize with - share the suffering of compassionate, condole with, feel for, pity grieve, sorrow - feel grief commiserate, sympathise, sympathize - to feel or express sympathy or compassion the elected officials in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden who have begun issuing marriage licenses to gay couples - they believe in this issue passionately, and they're doing something they believe in. But they're also breaking the law. And elected officials are sworn to uphold up·hold tr.v. up·held , up·hold·ing, up·holds 1. To hold aloft; raise: upheld the banner proudly. 2. To prevent from falling or sinking; support. 3. the law, even laws they disdain. Four years ago, Californians overwhelmingly voted to define marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a woman. Unless that law is changed, no officeholder of·fice·hold·er n. One who holds public office. Noun 1. officeholder - someone who is appointed or elected to an office and who holds a position of trust; "he is an officer of the court"; "the club elected its officers for - no matter how passionate - has any business flouting it. To do so is to insult both the voters and the constitution of California. If every official were to behave like those in San Francisco when they don't like a law, we would have anarchy ANARCHY. The absence of all political government; by extension, it signifies confusion in government. , and people's faith in a system of laws based on democratic principles would be destroyed. For those who are committed to changing California's law on marriage - or any law - there's an established process for initiating reform. They can protest in the streets, lobby their legislators, start a ballot initiative and take their case to the public. The job of public officials is to enforce the law, even to work to change it - but not to break it. |
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