Protesters Did Not Bring Down Prop. 187
* It is certainly praiseworthy that the Latino students in the Q&A; article (“Initiative’s Impact on Young Minds,” Nov. 25) have learned to take pride in their political activism. However, it is also a pity that none of their teachers took the trouble to explain why Proposition 187 was invalidated.
All the fervor, all the marching with Mexican flags, all the meetings in which they participated really accomplished nothing other than to improve these students’ self-esteem. What worked was the true glory of the American system of government, the system of checks and balances.
Just as the legislative branch checks and balances the power of the President, so the judicial branch checks and balances the legislators. The people of California, acting as uninformed legislators, cannot pass an unconstitutional and unenforceable law, however passionate their desire and however great their numbers at the polls.
That, not marches and meetings, is why our republic survives.
ELINOR J. LENCH
North Hills
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