It’s open season on Middle East dictators — but I’m a little jealous. Greater freedom and democracy may be coming to Tunisia and Egypt and Bahrain, but what about us?
The last two decades Americans have asserted themselves, changing control of Congress several times as well as passing term limits and other reforms directly through numerous statewide citizen initiatives.
Have our elected representatives responded by facilitating such democratic participation? Not on your life!
This year, many state legislators came into session hell-bent on blocking the citizen check of initiative and referendum.
In Colorado, legislators have proposed a constitutional amendment making it harder to place initiatives on the ballot. It would also mandate a 60 percent supermajority vote to pass a constitutional amendment, allowing deep pocket special interests the power to defeat reforms popular enough to win 59.9 percent of the vote.
Last November, Oklahoma voters passed a constitutional amendment to make it a little easier for citizens to petition an issue onto the ballot. Now, just months later, state senators narrowly passed an amendment that would make the same process much more difficult.
Currently, Nevada citizens must gather signatures in each of the state’s three congressional districts to qualify a statewide ballot issue. Legislation is pending to increase this requirement from three petition drives to 42 separate petition drives — one for each of the 42 state legislative districts.
Thus our “representatives” seek to stop the people from representing themselves.
This is Common sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
5 replies on “Keeping Up with the Arabs”
I am a retired lawyer and constitutional scholar. I have been studying this problem for more than 10 years; I am convinced the only solution is for an Article V Convention to offer amendments to the Constitution.
No, it’s not a “con con” and anyone using that term wants to mislead you; they want to prevent you from restoring the Constitutional Republic the Founders gave us.
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At least 38 states have called for an article V Convention. The Congress has ignored it. The letter of the law has nothing to do with the time frame or the similarity of issues. Article V says that whenever 2/3 of the states call for one, that the priority of Congress is to set it up. Congress continues to ignore their sworn obligation.
Any amendemtns proposed would still have to be ratified by 3/4 of the states. This is a built in check against the igonorant, the radicals, the socialists destroying the country in one fell swoop.
AND THE ANAL PORES, I MEAN VOTERS, KEEP RE-ELECTING THE INCUMBENTS, REGARDLESS OF PARTY.
Just the other day, an item here in sunny Florida, abotu Congressman Bill Young, ® turning EIGHTY ( 80) and in his FORTIETH (40TH) YEAR IN THE HOUSE.
NO MENTION WAS MADE OF HSI FLIP FLOPPING ON ISUES, NOR HIS EARMARKS FOR CONSTUTIENT FIRMS, EVEN GOING SO FAR AS AWARDING GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS F (DEFENSE DEPT.) THAT THE DEFENSE DEPT. DID NOT ASK FOR.
AND THE VOTERS KEEP RE-ELECTING HIM.
AND THIS GOES ON NATIONWIDE.
Yes, the initiative and referendum are important ways for the electorate (us) to control government, and there’s another, the recall. It isn’t used frivolously, but it is used, and, when it’s used, it removes the worst of the politicians from office. This tends to happen when pols cease paying attention to the voters’ will. Naturally, career politicians hate it. Let us embrace it.