In a message dated 6/13/07 7:19:44 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
mac_mcclellan@hotmail.com writes:
···
Government oversteps the consent given them by the governed when it
passes laws that "create" criminals of otherwise law-abiding
citizens.
****
I do believe these new smoking laws in Nevada and Arizona were inititive
driven ballot propositions. A grass roots movement had to get enough valid
signatures to get a proposition put on the state ballot. I think there were
actually two Nevada Props for smoking on the same ballot.
I understand that this voter initiative type of lawmaking had it's start in
the western states and alot of the country has no such mechanism. So you can't
directly blame the elected officials on the new smoking laws, since it was a
Prop.
This voter inititiave feature can get out of control. The Arizona ballots
now have more Props than candidates it seems.
It also can backfire. Remember twenty years ago when the rest of the world
thought Arizona was a bunch of racists over the Martin Luther King
holiday/Super Bowl issue? Well there where three different versions of voter initiatives
on the ballot to establish a MLK state holiday. None got a majority since
three different versions fragmented the positive votes...one Prop would have
easily passed like it did the next election.
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