THE PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES

NATIONAL REFERENDUM MOVEMENT -- POSITION PAPER NO. 1

WE THE PEOPLE HAVE AN IMMUTABLE right to settle our grievances against government via petition, an authority that is declared in both federal and state constitutions. In fact, this is the people's most important power because it is through redress that all other rights are protected. Put another way, it is the citizens' ability to redress grievances in a convenient, timely and effective manner that prevents representative government from becoming misrepresentative of the people's will.

For a century, the petition process of choice in America has been voter initiative and referendum. I&R legislation describes how the right of redress will be exercised and how the people's decisions will be implemented. Used in half the states and in thousands of local jurisdictions, this mechanism enables voters and reform-minded public officials to circumvent the political establishment and place significant issues on the ballot when government fails to act as needed (omission) or behaves contrary to the public good (commission):

INITIATIVE Petition process that enables citizens to introduce new legislation for approval or rejection at the polls;

REFERENDUM Petition process by which citizens call existing legislation up for a vote. This procedure is often referred to as a "proposition" or "ballot measure."

BECAUSE THIS PETITION PROCESS has been in continuous use in America for 100 years, I&R has become part of the "organic law of the land," a term that is known to be synonymous with due process:

"While it has been held that the idea of direct legislation is as old as government, the adoption of the initiative and the referendum as a part of the organic law in some jurisdictions came about as a result of the growth of dissatisfaction and distrust of the people for their legislative bodies, and because of the increase of corruption in legislation due to the power and influence of large corporations and powerful groups of individuals,
and was not due to any willful or perverse desire of the people….
The legislation power is vested in the legislation assembly and in the people."
--Corpus Juris Secundum

ONE CAN SAFELY CONCLUDE THAT, in the absence of a petition process, the people are denied due process. This view was espoused by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clark in a concurring opinion written in 1962:

"I would not consider intervention by this (U.S. Supreme) Court into so delicate a field if there were any other relief available to the people of Tennessee. But, the majority of the people of Tennessee have no 'practical opportunities for exerting their political weight at the polls' to correct the existing 'invidious discrimination.' Tennessee has no initiative and referendum. I have searched diligently for other "practical opportunities present under the law. I find none other than through the federal courts. The majority of the voters of Tennessee have been caught up in a legislative strait jacket. Tennessee has an "informed, civically militant electorate" and "an aroused popular conscience," but it does not "sear the consciences of the people's representatives." … The people have been rebuffed at the hands of the Assembly…. We therefore must conclude that the people of Tennessee are stymied and without judicial intervention will be saddled with the present discrimination in the affairs of their state government." Emphasis added. --Baker v. Carr

EVEN THOUGH THE RIGHT OF REDRESS is recognized by the courts, it is impractical for the people to engage the judicial system each time they have a grievance against government. Holding rein on government is the role of citizen petition, a procedure that developed alongside the political system for this very purpose. Redress was a fact of life in the republican states of Greece and Rome, theme of the Magna Carta and underlying cause of the American Revolution:

"In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every trait which would define a tyrant
is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
--Declaration of Independence

RESIDENTS OF EACH STATE ARE guaranteed a republican form of government by Article IV, Sec. 4 of the U.S. Constitution, as evidenced by this state supreme court ruling: "In a republic, all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on that authority and instituted for their peace, safety and happiness. For these ends, they may alter or reform the government in such manner as they think proper. In this country, these are well-recognized political truths, independent of any written constitution or laws."

In conclusion, government's only legitimate reason for existence is to serve the sovereign citizens. Ours is a system created for that purpose by the people themselves. And, of course, what the people invent, they are free as a body to "alter, reform or abolish." In half the states, this end is achieved through I&R, a centuries-old petition process that provides a convenient, timely and effective way to correct the faulty actions of government. The citizen petition is a hallmark of civilization, an alternative to armed revolt, an integral part of our constitutional heritage and a key component of representative government. The I&R procedure is a recognized form of due process. Yet, no petition mechanism exists nationally and in half the states, despite the constitutional protections afforded this ancient right.

THE NATIONAL REFERENDUM MOVEMENT was formed to address this predicament. In addition to supporting the efforts of grassroots activists, our mission is developing and proving in the field a unified strategy, beginning with this initial three-prong approach:

THE TENNESSEE PLAN

LEGISLATIVE While seeking the governor's active support, lobby lawmakers to pass I&R;
ELECTORAL Test the right of redress by trying to place an issue on the ballot via petition;
JUDICIAL When the petition is turned down, sue the buzzards for obstruction of civil rights!

Should this approach fail, activists will implement The Big Squeeze, an elaborate back-up plan that as-sails this deprivation of rights from every angle at once.

National Referendum Movement, P.O. Box 11351, Memphis, TN 38111, 901-373-3366

The nonprofit, nonpartisan National Referendum Movement is a participant in the American Petition Project, a nationwide coalition of citizens groups that support the right of the people to seek redress of grievances against government via petition. Contact us at P.O. Box 11351, Memphis, TN 38111-0351, (901) 373-3366, petition@earthlink.net.