mindstalk | (Reply)

A mean reply would be that you are rather like a high school English teacher. You hate to see people not obsessing about what you like to think about.

More seriously I live in a state where recall elections a wielded as a weapon by people like the gun lobby. Where every stupid special interest tries to write a special advantage for themselves into the state constitution with each new election cycle. Did not like the answer from the legislature? Bother the people with your proposal for a casino. Or making everyone bond out of jail (thanks bail bondsmen). Or that life starts at conception. Or to "accidentally" write the full legalization measure to fail to authorize the tax (thanks marijuana industry).

And the contradictions are great too. One measure forbids the raising of taxes without a vote of the people. Another orders a yearly increase in the education budget. Our state government is crushed between TABOR and Amendment 23. Eliminate taxes on veterans... And order the building or more roads.

On the whole I think we get crappy government from the referendum process and when I hear national referendums I think, "An even bigger waste of my time and money, great."

I get very little time to myself. I cook three square meals a day, work 40 hours a week, sleep eight hours a night, commute six hours a week, and do it all on/for an income that is half the median. I also will not have health insurance for another two months. At least Obamacare is finally forcing the sort of employer I work for to provide healthcare. Though I fear I may lose my job in cost cutting.