Let the People's Voice Be Heard

There was a time when I was opposed the initiative - the process by which a set number of registered voters sign a petition to submit a proposal to become law on either local or state levels.  I believed then, and opponents will still say, that it is not needed because we have representative democracy in the form of elected town and city councils and state legislatures.  Through approaching these officeholders, they say, we can present our ideas to them and they in turn have them drafted into ordinances and bills which they debate, amend and perhaps adopt.  These ideas turned into proposals can in theory become local or state law.   A further argument is that should these officeholders ignore or in anyway thwart the people’s wishes, they can suffer their wrath at the next election.  All sounds good but when you leave the theory and apply it to real life - well, it doesn’t work so well.

That unresponsiveness, at times quite high handed if not outright arrogant, smacks of an affront to what America is all about or at least what we, as a Nation were designed to be.

Founding father, patriot and 4^th President of the United States, James Madison said it best in Federalist 49 when he stated: "[a]s the people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived, it seems strictly consonant to the republican theory to recur to the same original authority... whenever it may be necessary to enlarge, diminish, or new- model the powers of government."

Referendum refers to the process by which ballot questions (i.e., initiatives) are decided by the plurality of votes cast at a general or special election.  This is not a new concept.  For decades Rhode Island and Woonsocket voters have decided so-called “ballot questions.”  While the referendum process is not strictly a direct democracy (town meetings are the best example of that process,) it comes pretty close to it.

While it can be said, and many historians and students of government will argue that state legislatures or municipal councils “grant” these rights to citizens, in reality - based on the Constitution itself, the ultimate power rests with the people, a concept buttressed by Madison’s previously cited quote.

The problem with investing so much in the average citizen rather than elected legislators is that citizens need to be aware of the issues and active participants in the system.  The very word democracy comes from the Greek for “the people + rule.”  Maybe I am too optimistic, but I believe it can be and should be done.  Haven’t we as a society taken the easy route for too long?  Look at the results!

I have a fundamental belief in American Exceptionalism and citizens’ ability to meet the challenges in the future through active citizenship.  With 21^st century technology, it is easier than ever for anyone to get information on which to base decisions.   So recently, when the Woonsocket City Council decided not to forward an initiative and referendum the proposed amendment to the Home Rule Charter to the voters in November they effectively silenced the people's voice.  For now.