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October 22, 2004

Taking Democracy For A Ride

Last night I sat down with my trusty Voter's Guide, ballot, (Oregonians vote by mail, so our ballots come to our mailing address)and black ink pen to fill out my ballot for the 2004 election. Voting gives me an intense feeling of civic pride and participation. I look forward to it every time.

That said I am really disenchanted with Oregon's ballot initiative process. For those that don't know, Oregon (I know California and Washington do this too) allows citizens to gather petitions to put issues on the ballot for voters.

Every year there's a cumbersome list of issues stemming from various interest groups trying to push their agenda. This year is no different.

Two iniatives of note are 36 and 37.

36 would amend the Oregon Constitution to make marriage legal only between a man and a woman. As you can well imagine, this one has the support of the conservative contingent in Oregon.

37 states that "governments must pay owners, or forgo enforcement, when certain land use restrictions reduce property values". In an nutshell, this means that if you used to be able to do something on your property and the government changes the land use laws and now you can't, then the government has taken something away from you and has to compensate you. This too has the hefty backing of the various conservatives in the state.

Most people in Oregon believe that the Oregon Constitution currently allows gays to legally marry. So therefore if 36 passes and gays are no longer allowed to marry, shouldn't the State of Oregon be compensating them for what was taken away?

Somehow I doubt THAT would have the backing of the conservatives.

Posted by Carla at October 22, 2004 05:52 PM