Roz Brown of the Public News Service gets one of South Dakota’s top pundits to explain the inherent philosophical flaw in the Republican Party’s 2017 repeal of IM22 and its war on initiative and referendum:
…Republican Party lawmakers used emergency powers to repeal a voter-approved anti-corruption referendum establishing ethics and campaign finance reforms, saying constituents didn’t understand what they were voting for.
“There’s no data saying that any specific number of people went to the polls and didn’t get what they were voting on,” Heidelberger stresses. “It’s an ideological position. When you say to me that voters don’t understand what they’re doing, you’re saying to me you don’t trust the voters, you don’t respect the voters” [Roz Brown, “SD Legislators vs. Voters: Putting Nation’s Oldest Initiative and Referendum Process Under Threat?” Public News Service, 2019.07.05].
Initiative and referendum have worked fine since the voters endorsed Father Robert Haire’s faith in them in 1898.
“It’s only in the last several years when the South Dakota voters have maybe broken a different way from what their legislators want,” [Heidelberger] states. “The Legislature just kind of had enough of us raining on their parade” [Brown, 2019.07.05].
South Dakota, you have your chance to reclaim your right to vote on the laws that affect your life. Reject the Legislature’s snobbery, sign the People Power Initiative Petition… and next year, elect some new legislators who actually respect your voice!
“one of South Dakota’s top pundits”
Who might that be?
It’s good commentary and not limited to SD. Kochs don’t like it when voters get in the way of their pet projects. Kochs expect that when they own a legislature, like SD’s, they’ll get what they want, that all their GOP boys will be just as drooling lapdogish as Al Nostrap. Chuckie and Davie get awfully peeved when that doesn’t happen.
Life is hard when you’re an oligarch and there are still active remnants of democracy.
Republican Party lawmakers used emergency powers to repeal a voter-approved anti-corruption referendum establishing ethics and campaign finance reforms, saying constituents didn’t understand what they were voting for.
Exhibit A is the gross number of nincompoops that actually voted for Drumpf.
Thousands of Jewish people currently protesting in Boston to close the camps. I guess in SD that would be disallowed under our “riot-boosting” laws, eh?
This comes from the Reclaim Idaho blog. Those folks are fighting a similar battle to maintain their constitutional rights to referendum and initiative. This particular item is a letter written to a legislator. I thought y’all might find it interesting. I did. Small red states are battling the oligarchs like Kochs.
is.gd/REmiFw
Good link, Debbo. Not sure I could write anything like that without some seasoning for my verbiage. But, then I am not constrained by any professional codes of conduct when the light turns green and my eyes see red.