Proponents of a Mississippi initiative are collecting signatures, even though currently Mississippi has no initiative procedure. The proponents have faith that in 2022 the legislature will pass a bill that restores the initiative process.
The subject of the initiative is to allow ten days of early voting. See this story.
I hope the process gets restored there. It was dirty how it got taken away.
I hope it doesn’t. Direct demo crazy is dangerous and leads to communism.
“Uncle Grandpa” raised a legitimate point, which is why I support some limitations on the initiative process. Really, there needs to be more restrictions on voting, as in people with a vested interest in the state, and people who are clueless about what the Constitution says, should be barred from voting, or donating to political campaigns.
We should also have fair jury trials where everyone knows about the right of jury nullification.
Having said this, I do favor an initiative, referendum, and recall process, as a check and balance against the power of legislative and executive branches of government, but the process should NOT be used to infringe upon the Bill of Rights.
ANTI-Democracy minority rule gerrymander regimes in ALL States — since 1776.
Democracy reforms – (voter petitions for state const amdts, laws, recalls) mostly killed off in 1917
— WW I by Tyrant Prez Wilson — in conspiracy with Brit/French empire monarchs/oligarchs.
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The key to making constitutional government work is to distribute power so widely that it is practically impossible for any person or party to gain full control. Madison pointed this out in Federalist #10. Our constitution provided for this with divided sovereignty, separation of powers, bicameralism and judicial review.
Referenda and initiatives can work, provided that their outcome is not absolute, and that legislatures retain the power to amend any successful initiative, and all laws, however passed, are subject to judicial review.
I can tell you from experience that the initiative has actually been used to restrain government here in the Great Blue Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Voters here have consistently rejected graduated income tax proposals, and supported a major tax cap on property taxes. It has probably kept Massachusetts from becoming more like New York.
Mass – THE red commie Donkey State due to multiple gerrymander amdts (about 15) to 1780 Mass Const.
Elephants almost extinct – DEAD or MOVED O-U-T — de facto ONE party red commie Donkey regime.
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Elephants may be gone, but there are still a few RINOs here and there.
“Andy” raised a legitimate point. We should bring back literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses for voting.
See Dorr’s WAR in RI in 1840-1842 >>> 1844 RI Const.
last of 13 orig States to get a written State Const.
What is a grandfather clause for voting?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grandfather%20clause
specifically : a provision in several southern state constitutions designed to enfranchise poor white people and disenfranchise Black people by waiving high voting requirements for descendants of men voting before 1867
Several states, including Louisiana, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, inserted “grandfather clauses” in their constitutions in order to permit persons, who could not otherwise qualify, to vote if their fathers or grandfathers could vote in 1866.
I agree. We need to bring that back along with poll taxes and literacy tests. It would also be nice to repeal the constitutional amendments that occurred since then or even go back to the Articles of Confederation or the Confederate Constitution.
But as far as the grandfather clauses, I would make them exclusionary, so only men all whose ancestors could vote in the Antebellum era would be allowed to vote , if they own property and pay their property and poll taxes and pass a constitutional literacy test.