Examining State Ballot Issues: Issue 1

‘’I’ve received numerous emails over the last two weeks asking my views on a number of statewide issues on the November 4 ballot — Issues 1, 3 and 5. For what it’s worth, below is the first of my humble assessments of these three ballot measures seen through the lens of corporate power/democracy. The questions that are important to me in examining each Issue are:
Will passage of the Issue provide business corporations more or less rights, rules and/or powers to do what they want, when they want, where they want?
Relatedly, will passage of the Issue make it more or less difficult for citizens to govern themselves?
With these two questions in mind, below is my assessment of state Issue 1. Similar assessments on Issues 3 and 5 will be shared over the next few days.

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State Issue 1

The main provision of Issue 1 calls for an earlier filing deadline for citizen-initiated statewide ballot issues from 90 days before an election to 125 days. It also establishes deadlines for county board of elections to validate citizen petitions. Its last provision calls for streamlining citizen-initiative petition legal challenges by bypassing lower courts in favor of the Ohio Supreme Court.

Citizens concerned about their power to directly create laws (i.e. called a “citizen initiative”) should be extremely skeptical whenever any proposals are offered to amend the citizen initiative process.

It was the 1912 Ohio Constitutional Convention, which created 3 direct democratic tools — the initiative, referendum and recall. These tools permitted citizens to create and undue laws considered to be unjust, as well as to replace public officials between elections acting against the interests of the people. These democratic tools were added to the state constitution as a way to counter the corporate influence to mold, shape, and create public policies...and politicians. These tools are still needed today more than ever.

Anyone who has ever been involved in any citizen initiative campaign knows the extreme difficulty in collecting valid signatures. The more grassroots the initiative, the fewer the resources and petition circulators. Every single day is needed to collect names with the goal of gathering at least 50% more than the number of valid signatures required to account for those that will be tossed for any number of reasons.

Under current state law, completed citizen initiative petitions need to be submitted 90 days before the November election to qualify for that election. For those keeping track, that means early August. Issue one would move back the deadline 35 days — to the middle of June.

This stifles democracy.

It’s much more difficult to collect signatures in the winter and spring than during the summer here in Ohio. A mid-June deadline for signature submissions would effectively reduce the ability to organize a successful petition drive.

One might argue that petition circulators should just move indoors. Unfortunately, inside spaces are increasingly corporate spaces. One is generally not permitted to circulate petitions in workplaces or in corporate establishments — including malls. The first amendment right to petition doesn’t exist on corporate property. The corporate enclosure of what formerly had been public town squares significantly reduces the ability to speak, organize...and petition.

Issue 1 is being promoted as a means to increase efficiency and effectiveness of boards of elections to count and verify citizen petitions. Such is the perspective from the top looking down.

For citizens dedicated to making creating rules and laws that bypass legislative and executive bodies (people at the bottom looking up), making it more difficult to organize a successful citizen initiative petition is a step in the wrong direction.

An Interesting Response to the Economic Crisis

A Catalan militant, Enric Duran, has defrauded 39 Spanish banks of 500,000 Euros, using some of same techniques as the Wall Street scammers. He used the money to fund social movements and produce 200,000 copies of a free newspaper called CRISIS, describing the fraud as well as the nature of the money system and alternatives to capitalism. For the English on-line version see: http://polaris.moviments.net:8000/crisi

Thanks to Peter Gelderloos for this information. See http://www.counterpunch.org/gelderloos10162008.html

It Pays To Rebel!

From the time we are old enough to understand language more complex than Mummy or Daddy, we are told that rebellion is a sure road to ruin. In most families if you express a desire to do something "out of the ordinary", such as become a muscian, artist, or writer out pours a litany. "You won't make any money." "You will be wretched and poor." "That's not for our kind of people." Then all the stories about the poverty, drug addiction and alcoholism of noted artists. Later on in high school or university, if you take an interest in peace, and the environment or join a socialist or anarchist group, then comes, "You will never get a good job with ideas like that." "Be practical." "You'll end up behind the eight ball." "Idealism is fine, but it won't pay the rent." "Wait till you are 40, you'll think different." It seems that unless you do what you are told, keep your thoughts to yourself and join the sheep, your future is toast. But, in reality, how good is the pay back from conforming?

Examine even briefly the history of the past hundred years and the results of doing what you are told don't seem so great. One result is premature death. Millions of men died in obeying the bosses call for victims in their wars. Many millions more were seriously injured or came back emotional wrecks. Then there was that little episode in Germany with the funny mustache guy. Genocide and a war that killed maybe 50 million people. All the work of obedient "good Germans." Roll ahead a few years. The men of the 1950's and 60's who worked obcessively all their lives because that was what they were supposed to do died in droves before or shortly after retirement.

The good little 1950's-60's housewives ended up alone in old age with no interests other than TV and bingo to comfort them. The people today who obey the media propaganda and simply must have three cars, a mini mansion and every new gadget that comes along, find themselves worked to death and in debt peonage. Then cigarettes, diet sodas, junk food, all consumed by the lemming masses whose pay back is obesity and cancer. And so on...

The vast majority of rebels who headed for the hills or took off to Mexico rather than get themselves killed in the trenches, survived. The socialists, anarchists and trade unionists who remained true to their convictions all their lives – and many did – ended up in old age admired and respected by a younger generation of militants. Addicted or alcoholic artists certainly existed, but they were always in the minority. Their misery was the product of their times, of the highly authoritarian and repressive system they lived under.

I do not personally know a single artist, musician, writer or social activist who is miserable, or an addict or drunkard. The vast majority of fellow rebels I have known and grown into middle age with, have been successful and managed to live lives, that while not up to the 3 car, McMansion "standard", are by no means impoverished. They have become respected in their fields, such as art, journalism, crafts, music, poetry, film, photography, teaching, medicine, research, politics or trade union work.

The real route to success is doing what you really want to do. To excel, one must push at the boundaries, to go beyond what was done before. Pushing the boundaries means refusing to do what you are told - in other words rebelling.

But it makes sense that the rebels do well and the sheep suffer. That is the whole point of the authoritarian structure that demands obedience and conformity. The rulers want the people to obey so they can be easily exploited. If everyone rebelled and thought for themselves the bosses would no longer be able to control the population. The "good worker" is supposed to be fleeced. Obedience is a suckers game.