Ballot questions�American democracy, full-force
October 10, 2003 ~ 1:07 a.m.
To answer the question posed to me by buenacabra, I think any states that take on California�s example for a gubernatorial recall are in the right. Recall and ballot votes are, I believe, an important part of the democratic process, and what�s more, totally unique to the American political process. Anything that takes the vote out of politicians and into the direct hands of the average American working public has my total support. I�ve always been in favor of the public ballot.
I recall with glee every ballot question series I�ve voted in since 1990. That year, in Massachusetts, the biggest question was #3: the measure to roll back taxes to 1988 levels. Young, ignorant liberal college student that I was at the time, I voted NO against the measure. The results on Question 3 was just as important to me as the senatorial and gubernatorial results. Indeed, despite my conservative conversion, I still have the NO ON #3 sticker on the wall of my closet in my Boston house, so strong is the nostalgia for my first-ever ballot question voting. I felt that I had a direct impact on the political process, ignorant as I was about basic economics. If I felt that higher taxes were the key to a prosperous economy, stupid as such thinking is, I had a right to say so. There were other ballot votes in later years to make seat belt wearing and a graduated-income tax scheme mandatory, which I, in my conservative conversion, voted against, and a ballot question to repeal bilingual education that, had I not been in England at the time, I would have enthusiastically voted for; no matter�it passed.
Having lived in England, where public ballots rarely, if ever, occur, I appreciate what we American citizens enjoy as a result of states� rights: the right to vote directly on matters that our respective legislators can�t decide on, often of great voter passion and importance to state policy. I wouldn�t have it any other way. Even if it meant that the majority of states pass bleeding-heart liberal policies overnight, I would still support the process�or, at the very least, its basic democratic premise. At least then I know that the majority of the citizenry have truly had their say.
The recent recall ballot in California is further proof of the democratic right that we as Americans continue to enjoy, despite the best efforts of traitors to insist otherwise. In fact, it makes me think, if only Tony Blair would allow a public ballot on the euro. Instead, it appears that, should Labour win, we are going to be shoe-horned into adopting the doomed currency. Wonderful. Let no-one tell me that Brits, or anyone else for that matter, enjoy as much freedoms as Americans do. Simply not true.
Long live the ballot process and the American way that inspired it!
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
AMERICA FOR TRUE AMERICANS!