That is a truly clever idea.

Now lets ban together and go get that assualt weapon ban, magazine clip limit, nationwide voters right bill AND the House majority back!! There is more of us than them. We can get it done.

You just watch. All of a sudden, legislatures will discover that too much democracy is a bad thing, the rule of the mob and all that, and they'll change state Constitutions. We'll hear how legislatures simply can't do their jobs right with all these ballot initiatives gumming things up.

I predict we'll begin to hear exactly these arguments from the press within the year.

Also, expect the conservative courts to begin to knock these ballot laws on wages down. They'll probably say that voters can't interfere in a private contract between employers and workers, or some such crap.

It's coming. Get ready to fight it.

Abele: Voting Is Like A Facebook Poll
Move to Amend: Southeast Wisconsin held their press conference and rally on Monday morning. They drew a small crowd and the attention of Channel 12 on the local level and Thom Hartmann on the national level. The rally was aimed at trying to get Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele to sign a resolution to put a referendum on the November ballot to tell congress to amend the Constitution to state that corporations are not people and do not have the rights reserved for people.

Unfortunately, Abele is choosing to continue to show disdain for the voters by saying he will veto the bill on Tuesday. Even more egregious, he gives a quote to Channel 12 (starting about the 2:00 mark) stating that he feels that voting on this would have “as much impact as a Facebook poll.”

One has to wonder if Abele felt that way in April when he won the “Facebook poll” to become county executive.

He indicates again that his concern is the money, even though it comes to 1/60,000, of the entire budget. And considering that Abele was cheering about having a $11.5 million budget, this shouldn’t even be a factor in Abele’s decision making. After all, it is less than the raise he gave to Sue Black before he fired her.http://milwaukeecountyfirst.com/?p=3157

We've always had limited democracy. It's called a "representative democracy" but also a "liberal democracy." Direct rule is bad because it's easy to sway the mob to do something based on insufficient knowledge (something we rant about when the electorate doesnt' agree with us, and deny is possibl when they do); but it's also easy for the mob to ignore rights.

Think about it. If we had direct rule the day after the Civil Rights Act was passed, would a referendum have overturned it? Probably.

If Roe v Wade was decided one day, would a referendum have overturned it the following election? Surely.

Elections don't respect rights. Some are ensconced so deeply in our Constitution that it would take a real supermajority to overturn them. If it's a right we don't particularly like--gun rights--then we rue this. If it's one that we do like, then it's a great thing. That most don't smell the stench of that hypocrisy is one reason for not trusting the electorate with the right to, with a 50% + 1 majority, to decide all rights.

Otherwise that next election 50% + 1 might decide to require 200 hours of community service per year in a badly written law, reinstitute slavery, ban government recogniation of religion-based marriages, mandate that anybody making above median income pay 100% taxes, or stipulate that anybody on government assistance be given free medical care and other professional services (which might make a lot of lawyers, doctors, AC repairment, roofers, etc., really upset ... and broke).

. . . as far as a national, and perhaps even a state government goes. Their opinion about management of a city, I guess, would probably be quite different. Should democracy be "filtered" by representatives at every level?

But what I think more strongly is this: I think people in our country should get over the Founders.

Employers should be doing the ethical thing and paying their employees enough to actually live which means actual raises now and then to atleast keep with inflation and the cost of living as well as bonuses for being a good employee but instead it seems most employers are greedy sobs have no empathy for their employees and dont give a damn if they have to struggle from week to week.

Give the people what they want (and need).

Yup

Once a country mandated that everybody had to have a certain amount of living space.

Those who had excess had to share. It wasn't a choice. Neighborhood committees went into every house and apartment to measure living space, excluding things like kitchens and bathrooms. If you had too much, your name was on a list of those with excess. If you had too little, your name went on a list of those with too little. If you were homeless, you were at the top of the "too little" list. If your space was substandard, it was moved to the "reserve" list and left vacant if there wasn't a need for it.

Then they just moved people. If you were a family of 5 with too little space, you'd be moved in with an old woman with enough space for 6. Rooms might have to be subdivided. Access through adjoining rooms might be mandated. If the new residents didn't object to your stuff, then you could let them use it. Otherwise you had to move it to your space. Kitchens and bathrooms were public areas.

They gave the people what they wanted--the people got more equitable housing *and* got to watch the top 10% suffer. "The people" like payback, it's one thing that separates them from the elite, a healthy spirit of revenge. I think it would be neat to watch that happen in the US. Gates' mansion subdivided. Bush's house subdivided. The Obama's Chicago home, subdivided.

Of course, one problem that followed was that all the people that wanted to move to another town or part of town felt free to do so, so they very quickly had to institute neighborhood registration laws. You needed local permission to move into a neighborhood because living space was a limited government-controlled and regulated good. And when you went for your first apartment, you needed to apply for one and take what was given. But hey, people were free from need. And they got their revenge. You get a new job in a different city, you can't move until the housing committee grants you residency. Your kid moves out, somebody else has to move in. Your wife dies, your apt. is subdivided. Oddly, the incredible inconvenience was tolerated--loathed, but tolerated--for decades.