A General Summary of the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall Process
Because I don't know who is familiar or not with these instruments of citizen lawmaking or where a reader is in this series of excerpts on A Government By The People, I am including a summary of how the process works with each excerpt:
(1) In the initiative process, if citizens from a specific political unit i.e., town, county, state, or nation, desire as citizen lawmakers to see a specific proposition become law, and they get the legally designated number of signatures of registered voters required by law for that unit of government in support of that law, that proposition goes to the registered voters of that unit of government for a vote, and if the proposition receives the majority of the votes cast, the proposition becomes law.
(2) In a citizen referendum, if the citizens of a specific political unit disapprove of a law passed by their legislature, and they obtain the legally designated number of signatures of registered voters required by law in support of a proposition demanding the repeal of that law, that proposition goes to the registered voters of that unit of government, and if the proposition received the majority of the votes cast, the law is repealed.
(3) In a recall, through the same process, citizens can recall representative or public officials, except that in this instance a super majority is usually required.
Does the Initiative Process Transcend the Either/Or Choices of Our Two Party Politics?
What is remarkable about the initiative, referendum, and recall process is that it transcends the simple-minded choices of winner-takes-all two-party politics and elections by demanding that voters make decisions issue by issue. When given a choice, issue by issue, the American people can't be simply categorized along party lines. This observation of voter behavior has been supported by a study done by David Magleby in 1984, Direct Legislation: Voting on Ballot Propositions in the United States, Baltimore, MD, John Hopkins University Press.
In that study, Magleby's research shows that voters tend to support or oppose propositions independent of their party affiliations. On some issues they will vote conservative or along Republican Party lines, but on other issues the same voters will vote along Liberal or Democratic Party lines or maybe somewhere else on the political spectrum. This leads us to conclude that the simple-minded breakdown of the American people into a two party system does not reflect the true interests or the full scope of their will and that direct citizen lawmaking, issue by issue, is a far better way to determine public policy and avoid polarization and the reduction of choices to a winner-take-all vote for a candidate who then takes away from you your freedom of choice for a designated term of office.
"Yes," you may say, "but we can vote them out." However, this is like saying to a bank robber that he can't go back into the bank after he has stolen all the money.
Cites:
Magleby, David, Direct Legislation: Voting on Ballot Propositions in the United States, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1984
Illustrations:
Illustration #16, Power to People, Tino, Marcello and Andrea Dalla Bona, Learn or Die: The New American Revolution, Thompson and Prince, 2020.
Author's Note - Learn or Die: The New American Revolution is a two part revolution of political and economic democracy. Initially in the excerpts from the book that I am sharing, I am focusing on the political revolution and citizen lawmaking. In this study of political democracy, I will cover key questions about the initiative, referendum, and recall process of citizen lawmaking: 1) Does money dominate the process? (2) Does the initiative, referendum, and recall process of lawmaking trample minority rights? (3) Does the process work for everyone? (4) Is the average American capable of being a citizen lawmaker?
Author's Note - I have made Learn or Die: The New American Revolution available to you through Smashwords in a Freedom for Free Edition where you can pay what you want for the book or nothing at all. It is free. I'm doing this because after 50 years of research and study I believe I have found the way for all of us.
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