I wonder ... about elections and referendums

I wonder why we voted twice, once in March and again this week.

The March vote was part of the cockeyed way the two major political parties select candidates. That was a presidential primary.

Some states caucus rather than voting in a way that presumably determines who will be favored by each candidate in the first round of convention balloting. That's a big issue this year, because it has been a long, long time since a political convention depended on a free-for-all to select a candidate. And it looks like the Republicans could be in that situation this year. What fun.

So we voted in a presidential primary in March, and this week we (some of us) traipsed back to the polls to fill local city and school slots and vote on a couple of tax issues.

This means election officials had to set up polling places twice, hire poll workers twice, print ballots twice.

Why?

We hear politicians say, all the time, how they will cut government waste and lower -- that's right, lower -- our taxes. It rarely happens, of course, but politicians keep saying it.

It looks to me like here's one way to economize. Just a little bit. Taxes probably wouldn't even change. But we would be spared the extra trip to polling places, wouldn't we?

n

I wonder why some members of the Missouri General Assembly think it's a good idea to foist their responsibilities onto the state's voters.

What I'm talking about are those messy issues that legislators debate and then place on statewide ballots for the voters to decide. Why don't the legislators do their jobs and pass good laws?

Missouri is one of those states that allow both for referendums and initiatives. What legislators too often do is turn a thorny issue into a referendum for voters.

These referendums aren't to be confused with constitutional amendments, which must be approved by voters. Goodness knows Missouri's ship of state has a constitution-waiting-to-capsize from the barnacles of copious amendments covering many items that should have been legislated rather than constitutionalized.

Initiatives are another legislative process altogether. Initiatives give the state's voters an opportunity to create laws when legislators refuse to do so. I'm a big fan of initiatives, even though they make for some untidy ballots from time to time. That's OK. The voice of the people is the supreme law. Or something like that.

I'd like to see Missouri legislators either step up to the lawmaking plate and pass the laws their constituents seem to support, or let the merits of some of these issues rest on the initiative process. But don't foist lawmaking onto voters through referendums.

n

I wonder why everyone doesn't agree with me. On everything.

I make perfectly good sense. I use rational argumentation. I make my case as plainly as possible.

I'll bet there are more than a few elected officials who feel the same way I do. No, I don't mean they all automatically agree with everything I say, although that would be fine with me. What I mean is that most politicians think everyone should agree with THEM.

Can you imagine that?

What about you? Are you, like me and all those politicians, always right?

I'll bet you think you are.

And I'll agree with you, too, as soon as I see the results of the initiative ballot on whether referendums are needed on any issues other than constitutional amendments, which should be severely limited.

Don't forget. We have another election coming up in August. The primary. Not to be confused with the presidential primary, because it's not. And another election in November. The general. When we elect, among other things, a president. A process that has been going on forever. It seems.

I'm glad I had this opportunity to clear things up a bit.

I wonder. Did I?

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.