The other day I talked to a prominent businessman about the proposals on Michigan’s ballot. This is a man who has been active in business and government in our state for many years.
When we came to the proposal on eminent domain, he told me he was against it. “The state has to have the right to take land for the public good, if a freeway or a new public building is needed,” he said.
“Well, this proposal wouldn’t change that,” I said. “It just says the state can’t force you to sell your land and give it to Wal-Mart, say.”
He thanked me. “I’m embarrassed,” he said. “I‘ve been setting up a new business and haven‘t really concentrated on these.”
When we hung up, I thought about what a farce the whole ballot proposal game has become. Most of the state‘s voters won‘t vote on these ballot proposals. Many of those who do will misunderstand them. Those who put these proposals on the ballot know that perfectly well. In fact, in many cases they want to fool the voters, as Mark Grebner, founder of the East Lansing base firm Practical Political Consulting, cheerfully confessed.
That’s why this morning I heard Kirk Gibson, a washed-up baseball player, urging voters to support dove hunting. The evildoers who would ban killing this bird of peace, he said, are actually secretly plotting to take away our right to do any hunting at all.
I turned the radio off at that point, but wouldn’t be surprised if he went on to say that the pro-Dove forces would next take all of our guns away, and then the legendary black helicopters would arrive to end the last vestiges of freedom in America.
That’s enough to make you want to knock off a couple doves on the way to the gym. Either that, or be secretly happy that Gibson is no longer coaching for the Detroit Tigers.
There’s something very wrong with packing a bunch of complex measures onto an already crowded state ballot and asking harried voters to decide whether to adopt them. That‘s no way to make responsible public policy. Consider this. Since the original Bill of Rights in 1791, there have been only 17 more amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The current Michigan Constitution was adopted in 1963, and has already been amended 27 times.
This year, there are three more proposed constitutional amendments. Pretty soon, there may be so many amendments that the entire document becomes unworkable, and many of the normal functions of the legislature will be paralyzed.
Here’s something else you may not know. Four years from now, the state’s voters will be asked to decide whether to have a new constitutional convention. I’ve always been against this idea before. Now, I am thinking the cart may be broken.
And it may be time to reinvent the wheel.
I'm kind of conflicted about this. It is true that in a lot of cases, our elected officials vote against the public will or the public interest. Its nice to have some way to keep them accountable in areas where they refuse to act, such as with the minimum wage. At the same time, the reason why we have elected officials is to deal with complex policy issues that voters don't have the time to deal with on a regular basis. We vote for Representatives that share our values, trusting that they translate those values into public policy that we would agree with, if we understood it.
With our upcoming budget crisis, the last thing we need to do is keep tying the legislature's hands. I usually don't vote in favor of ballot proposals just based on the principle that these complex policy measures are probably better handled by the experts.
After the election is over, we need to take a hard look at this issue.
Posted by: Nirmal | November 02, 2006 at 03:32 PM