This presidential campaign is about change, but it’s outside of government that change comes fast and furious. Maybe it’s just my advancing age but the world seems to be speeding 90 miles an hour into the future.
Actually, we’re spinning at over 1,000 miles an hour and soaring around the Sun at 67 times that rate. Some days it feels like it.
Yes, there is going to be change. It ought to come from us, not the insiders — or the politicians running to purportedly change Washington, or to change your neck of the woods, often after decades in office.
Most of our changes won’t come through government policies. They’ll happen in the marketplace, or at church, through a non-profit group, or in the neighborhood or family. But some changes do require politics.
Then, “We, the People” must be able to act. Which means citizens must be able to pass an initiative or call a referendum on a law passed by legislators.
Americans overwhelmingly agree, but some reformers don’t get it.
Once I argued with a major term limits supporter who suggested that term limits would improve legislatures enough to render the initiative process unnecessary.
Not long after, I debated an advocate of public financing for political campaigns. He said the initiative wouldn’t be needed once his reform was achieved.
There are many reforms. Because we live in an ever-changing world, we need the ability to keep making reforms. That’s the voter initiative.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.