Thoughts On Amendment 2

October 27, 2004 B. John 159 Views

Amendment 2 changes the way citizen initiatives work and requires citizen initiative petitions to be submitted earlier–indeed, before the Legislature convenes for the year. This raises three main concerns:

It’ll be harder to get an initiative on the ballot because there’s less time to muster support (and because most people tend not to think much about state politics for the few months after an election). This will clearly make it harder for grassroots iniatives, but easier for those funded by powerful PACs and lobbies.
Because the petition must be filed before the legislative session, there’s no way to quickly reverse the Legislature’s malfeasance or nonfeasance, which could mean two years of suffering.
It doesn’t pass the general “smell test” because the amendment doesn’t apply to amendments proposed by the Legislature. (What happened to “inherent in the people”?)

So I would recommend a NO vote on Proposed Amendment 2.

B. John

Records and Content Management consultant who enjoys good stories and good discussion. I have a great deal of interest in politics, religion, technology, gadgets, food and movies, but I enjoy most any topic. I grew up in Kings Mountain, a small N.C. town, graduated from Appalachian State University and have lived in Atlanta, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Dayton and Tampa since then.

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B. John