Should popular majorities decide which religious symbols are endorsed and erected on government property?
Of course not. Popular majorities are the right way to decide who should win elections and whether a referendum should be approved or not. But popular majorities should not decide which political opinions are protected by the First Amendment and which may be suppressed. Nor should they decide which religious symbols the government should be promoting and which the government should suppress. But what about the Mt. Soledad referendum in San Diego? There were two Mt. Soledad referenda in San Diego. Supporters of the federal government seizure of the Mt. Soledad Latin cross emphasize one, but not the other. More San Diegans voted to reject the transfer of the city land under the cross to a private entity only eight months before the much-referred-to July 2005 vote, in which 76 percent approved a transfer of city land to the federal government. In November 2004, in a general election, 256,745 voters rejected a proposition to transfer the portion of land underneath the cross to the Mount So
