"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." - Thomas Jefferson



"THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN"S SOULS"...AGAIN... TIME FOR PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY?

We as Americans all remember being taught when we were young about our nation's founders, the patriots who stood up to the tyranny of the crown of England, the drafters of the declaration of independence, the constitution, and the bill of rights, the documents that became the framework for a system of governance that they believed would maintain a balance of power within a truly representative government, that would preserve the basic rights and liberties of the people, let their voice be heard, and provide to them a government, as Lincoln later put it, "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

What we may not be so quick to recall, however, is that there was much debate between the founding fathers as to what model our system of government should follow. Those such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and Patrick Henry on one side favored a pure and direct democracy with the legislative power vested in the very hands of the people, while others such as James Madison, John Adams and George Washington held that a representative democracy would better serve the people than a true democracy because they believed it would protect the individual liberties of the minority from the will of the majority. Alexander Hamilton even went so far as to support the creation of a monarchy. In the end, those favoring representative democracy won the day and that is the system they put in place in the hopes of creating a "more perfect union."

Now we must ask ourselves, what would the founding fathers think if they were resurrected today to see what has become of their vision? One can only assume that they would begin to search for modern day patriots to meet them once again at the liberty tree in order to plan a new struggle for freedom and self governance. Although we continue to praise and honor those who founded our nation and sought to create a truly just form of government for it, do we really stop to reflect on whether we as a nation have in fact succeeded in preserving what they fought so hard to create?

Today, in contrast to our revolutionary ancestors, we as citizens of the United States generally observe politics from afar and the vast majority of us may participate in the political process only to the extent that we go to the polls once a year to vote. Over the decades and centuries we have allowed the erosion of the ideals of the founding fathers and the corruption of the principles which they enshrined in those so carefully conceived documents. We have been left with essentially no real power to influence our "democratically" elected officials. We may write an occasional letter to our senator or representative that generates a form letter in response and a statistical data entry that may or may not be weighed against the influence of some powerful corporate lobby. We may be permitted to participate in a march or demonstration of thousands or even millions, something our patriots of old would have marvelled at, only to be dismissed as a 'focus group' with no bearing on policy decisions.

How then is the government held accountable to the voice of the people? Are the people meant to speak only at the polls when given a choice between a select few candidates that may be equally corrupt? No, as Jefferson and his allies rightly believed, the people should be heard much more than that.

In spite of their good intentions, the system of representative democracy that the founding fathers opted for has been systematically undermined and has ultimately failed in preserving the well being of the people of this nation. Most of us accept this reality as being beyond our control and continue to observe, comment, and complain without aspiring to achieving any real change. Our local leaders and activists in our communities, and even those local elected officials who may have the best of intentions are for the most part powerless to make real positive change happen in our neighborhoods, towns and villages when there is so much corruption from above.

We have become so accustomed to this failed system of representative democracy that it may not occur to us that there are other alternative forms of democracy. In various places around the world participatory or direct democracy has been instituted both in concert with representative democracy, and as a replacement for it. It is a form of democracy that is designed to take directly into account your views, and the views of your neighbors, and to politically empower you to make real positive change possible in your communities. Initiative, referendum & recall, community councils, and grassroots organizing are but a few ways in which direct/participatory democracy is achieving great success around the world.

This site will attempt to explore in depth the concept of participatory democracy and how this grass-roots based form of governance could help bring us back in line with the principles this country was founded upon if it were allowed to take root here. In the hope that one day we can become a nation working together as a united people practicing true democracy as true equals, we open this forum…

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Saturday, October 4, 2008

COLORADO: 18 ISSUES ON THE BALLOT - REFORM THE INITIATIVE PROCESS?

The following editorial points out that it can be confusing for voters if too many initiatives appear on the ballot and if the initiatives themselves are in fact proposed and implemented by corporate interests with ulterior motives. Unfortunately this causes some to believe that ballot initiatives are not an effective way to find consensus on political issues, especially when voters prefer not to wait in lines while each considers various issues or voters do not know enough about the issues to make educated decisions. In this case it does not mean that ballot initiatives are not an efficient way to interpret public opinion on important issues and that direct democracy should be discarded, but it does mean that the process and the requirements should be reformed and modified in order to decrease the influence of corporate interests, special interests, and those with sufficient funds to push an initiative through to the ballot. The system must be opened up to make it more accessable to the average citizen and allow grasssroots input into the initiative process by making the requirements less prohibitive to that sector, Since the system is currently plagued by individuals with special interests, the immediate cure should be more educational campaigns regarding the issues and more opportunities for public input and oversight. - Editor

Maybe We Need a Ballot Bailout

By Susan Greene
Denver Post Columnist
Source: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10572760

Ballots start arriving this week, and Colorado's are the longest in the country.

This year's 18 ballot issues raise questions about not only the policies they push but also the overuse of direct democracy itself. Initiatives are piling on as a way for special interests to confuse voters, Gov. Bill Ritter to tiptoe around lawmakers and political opponents to bleed each other dry.

Probably not what reformists had in mind when they launched citizen law-making in 1912 so Coloradans could have a voice when not being served by politicians.

Curious, then, that it's Ritter who's pushing this year's most contentious initiative — to end tax credits for oil and gas producers. The governor launched Amendment 58 without taking up the issue with the legislature controlled by his own party.

Many on both sides of the severance debate agree that something's missing in bypassing lawmakers.

"It's called leadership," says Rick Reiter, the consultant running the bid to defeat 58.

Reiter's own record is far from pure. He is the Donald Trump of Colorado's ballot-issue industry, managing at least $22 million in campaigns related to six of this year's measures.

He raised ire when, after helping education and environmental groups push the severance-tax proposal last year, he bailed out to pimp for the gas companies trying to defeat it.

Reiter sees "no contradiction" in his switch, nor in the fact that he helped unions pass state budget reforms in 2005 yet this year is paid to fight four union-backed measures. He goes so far as to insist he's "not opposing labor" and that his bid against Amendment 58 "has nothing to do with oil and gas" — the folks bankrolling the effort.

"Rick Reiter has either lost his moral compass or he never had one," says education activist Tony Lewis.

This year's biggest ballot bombast came after trust- funder union-buster Jonathan Coors floated three anti-labor ballot measures. Unions in turn qualified four of their own initiatives, including a timely one to prosecute fraudulent CEOs.

The result would be mutually assured destruction that would drain business and unions of money and manpower. So, despite opposition in their ranks, business groups unable to convince Coors to drop his right-to-work Amendment 47 are seeking to raise millions to defeat it in exchange for labor nixing its four initiatives.

That, plainly put, is called ransom — with no regard for the meat of the measures.

"The initiative process is being used as a tool for political purposes rather than policy purposes," says Jennifer Drage Bowser of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Why care that this year's ballot approaches lengths rivaling "War and Peace"?

Because it could mean record lines on Election Day.

Because we as voters are being played as pawns.

And because the clutter is prompting some to argue that ballot initiatives — the very tools used to win suffrage in this country — are no longer a realistic way to make policy.

Perhaps the lowest profile of this year's issues is Referendum O, a plan to make it tougher to float ballot initiatives that mess with the state constitution. Ironically, the measure was referred by House speaker Andrew Romanoff and other lawmakers who themselves are pushing Amendment 59, asking voters to change the constitution by removing language injected by two other voter-approved initiatives.

Eyes wide open, Colorado. We'll need to read the fine print carefully.

Susan Greene writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-1989 or greene@denverpost.com.

_____________________________________________________________________

Editor's note: We received the following insightful comments from a Colorado citizen in response to this post:

Evan Ravitz has left a new comment on your post "COLORADO: 18 ISSUES ON THE BALLOT - REFORM THE INI...":

Colorado's Referendum O should fail, because it allows the legislature to overturn a statutory (not an amendment) initiative with a 2/3 vote or, after 5 years, a majority vote of the legislature. Since a non-representative legislature is the whole reason for ballot initiatives, why allow this?

Here are some reforms that are really needed:

Voters on ballot initiatives need what legislators get: public hearings, expert testimony, amendments, reports, etc. The best project for such deliberative process is the National Initiative for Democracy, led by former Sen. Mike Gravel: http://vote.org/. Also http://healthydemocracyoregon.org/ and http://cirwa.org/

In Switzerland, petitions are left at government offices and stores for people to read and sign at leisure, so there are less aggressive petitioners and you can save your Mace. ;) The Swiss vote on initiatives 4-6 times a year so there's never too many on one ballot.

Legislators have never tried to improve the ballot initiative process, but often try to make it even harder. They'd rather have absolute power!

In Switzerland, representatives are humbler, after centuries of local and cantonal (state) ballot initiatives, and national initiatives since 1891. They call their system "co-determination." This works well for couples, too!

Posted by Democracy By The People at 2:34 PM

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1 comment:

Evan Ravitz said...

Colorado's Referendum O should fail, because it allows the legislature to overturn a statutory (not an amendment) initiative with a 2/3 vote or, after 5 years, a majority vote of the legislature. Since a non-representative legislature is the whole reason for ballot initiatives, why allow this?

Here are some reforms that are really needed:

Voters on ballot initiatives need what legislators get: public hearings, expert testimony, amendments, reports, etc. The best project for such deliberative process is the National Initiative for Democracy, led by former Sen. Mike Gravel: http://Vote.org. Also http://healthydemocracyoregon.org/ and http://cirwa.org

In Switzerland, petitions are left at government offices and stores for people to read and sign at leisure, so there are less aggressive petitioners and you can save your Mace. ;) The Swiss vote on initiatives 4-6 times a year so there's never too many on one ballot.

Legislators have never tried to improve the ballot initiative process, but often try to make it even harder. They'd rather have absolute power!

In Switzerland, representatives are humbler, after centuries of local and cantonal (state) ballot initiatives, and national initiatives since 1891. They call their system "co-determination." This works well for couples, too!

October 4, 2008 at 5:17 PM

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