The Initiative - the citizen tool that eternal vigilance requires

Mike Ford, Initiative for Texas

Our Founding Fathers actually had to fight to obtain freedom for themselves -- and for us. They knew that throughout history governments have always been a fearsome force for the concentration of power. So they set up the highest law in the land, the United States Constitution, to rigidly limit the ways in which government would be permitted to interfere in our lives.

Unfortunately, most of the restraints contained in the Constitution that protected our parents and grandparents so well for so long, have now been eroded away. Power is concentrating at an accelerating rate in Washington, D. C., and in state capitals such as Austin.

Organized special interest groups prefer that power be concentrated in state and national capitals, because it is much easier to influence power when it is concentrated in the hands of a small group in one place. According to the Texas Ethics Commission, during the 1997 session the special interests spent at least $90 million to influence the 181 members of the Texas Legislature. If this $90 million had to be spent to influence 9,000,000 Texas voters ($9 per voter), instead of 181 Texas legislators (an average of $497,000 per legislator), it would not have the same impact.

In Austin last session, the State Legislature passed 1,638 new laws. How many of them did you ask for? Do you know what even 2% of them are? Most were favors to organized special interests. Their lobbyists did their job well. And almost no one knows what wealth was transferred from the citizens of Texas to the special interests by these 1,638 laws. Lobbyists love this system. It keeps ordinary folks in the dark.

The initiative process is the only effective tool citizens have for peacefully decentralizing power. It provides a process, albeit a difficult one, whereby ordinary citizens are enabled to propose legislation on which the voters can make the final decision.

When Texans have the right of Initiative statewide, it can be used to restore some of the local control we have lost. Since initiative proposals must be circulated among the voters, they are open to the public at all times. It takes up to a year to obtain the hundreds of thousands of signatures needed to qualify a proposal for the ballot. After that there is at least 150 more days during which the issue is debated by the media and the public across the state. Doing a statewide initiative takes a lot of work, and involves a great many people. Voting takes place at general election time, when the largest number of people vote.

In states that have the initiative, it has primarily been used to impose limits on government: tax limits, term limits, etc. And voter turnout is higher. The initiative is truly the single most powerful tool for involving citizens in their government and for de-concentrating power.

If you want help get initiative rights on a statewide basis in Texas, contact us for more information: mikeford@quik.com

"All political power is inherent in the people,
and all free governments are founded on their authority,
and instituted for their benefit."
Texas Constitution, Article 1