REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES by DEBBIE SCHUM

I write for a couple of newspapers in western Colorado. This is my next column. Please share with those who don’t get these newspapers, as the anti-initiative propaganda has already started and will continue.
Debbie

Why “redress of grievances”?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

“to Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances” means the People, with evidence that the government is abusing its constitutionally limited power, have the Right to submit a Petition for a Redress (remedy) of the constitutional wrongdoing, that government has an obligation to honestly respond to the People’s Petition and, should the government ignore the People, the People have the Right to enforce the Right of Petition by retaining their money until their grievances are Redressed.

Basically it means that if the federal government is exceeding the authority granted to it under the constitution (which it does regularly by the way) the people have a right to formally complain and the government must respond. The incorporation of the Bill of Rights (incorporation for short) is the process by which American courts have applied portions of the U.S. Bill of Rights to the states. Prior to the 1890s, the Bill of Rights was held only to apply to the federal government. Under the incorporation doctrine, most provisions of the Bill of Rights now also apply to the state and local governments, by virtue of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

Prior to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and the development of the incorporation doctrine, in 1833 the Supreme Court held in Barron v. Baltimore that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal, but not any state, government. Even years after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment the Supreme Court in United States v. Cruikshank, still held that the First and Second Amendment did not apply to state governments. However, beginning in the 1890s, a series of United States Supreme Court decisions interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to "incorporate" most portions of the Bill of Rights, making these portions, for the first time, enforceable against the state governments. With special interests controlling legislative output, it became clear in the 1890s that more citizen involvement was needed. Not only could legislators not be trusted to bring important issues to the people, there needed to be a means of challenging ill-conceived legislative actions. The “citizen referendum” came in two forms. The “citizen initiative” was invented to address legislative omissions, while the “referendum petition” was invented to address legislative commissions (acts that overreach).

Why does the Bill of Rights apply to governments instead of citizens? Because the Bill of Rights (like the Constitution) are rules of our government…not rules of the people. Go back and read the first 5 words of the 1^st amendment above again. This is a limitation on government—not citizens. The Declaration of Independence declares: “Governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The initiative and referendum are important to representative democracy as a check and balance, a means of augmenting government accountability. The initiative is essential for dealing with issues that legislators cannot or will not address, such as conflict-of-interest issues (for example, limits on legislators’ powers) and third-rail issues (those that offend powerful interest groups). Public interest in and support for the initiative process remains high. But some politicians see the process as infringing on their monopoly power to legislate. Some politicians pretend to support the initiative and referendum to win election, but quickly forget their campaign promises and oaths to uphold the constitution. As with all rights, the right to petition is a fundamental right that is not granted by politicians or by governments. As a matter of fact, in delegating authority to legislate to the legislature, the sovereign citizens of Colorado limited their delegation by reserving “to themselves the power to propose laws and amendments” (Article V, Section 1(1)). Thus, the initiative is more than a fundamental right; it is a reserved power. The legislature has no authority to interfere with, throttle, or adversely control the process other than reasonable regulation to insure its fair and non-fraudulent exercise.

Keep this in mind in 2012 when Referendum O returns, and the government asks us to vote away our voting rights.