Power To The People (NOT)!

 

     Many States allow voters to put questions on statewide ballots, allowing residents to decide important issues.

     Alabama is decidedly not one of them. 

      It seems odd that the state with the motto "We Dare Defend Our Rights" is reluctant to allow people to put issues directly on a ballot. Other states allow it, if enough people simply sign a petition.

     That's what happened in Missouri this week, and voters approved Medicaid Expansion, as the N.Y. Times reported:

"Missouri on Aug. 4 approved a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative, extending coverage to 217,000 low-income residents. It is the sixth state to do so since President Trump’s inauguration. A seventh, Virginia, expanded Medicaid after Democrats gained control of the state legislature."

 Missouri's state motto?

Salus populi suprema lex esto, a Latin phrase meaning "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law."

      Alabama does allow--requires actually--voters to say yay or nay to amendments to the state constitution....the longest constitution in the world, with well over a thousand amendments. That's because every insignificant decision...creating a fire district, for example...requires a tweek of the constitutional language. But the only way for an amendment to be put o the ballot is through the legislature.

     Most Deep South States deny voters the right of initiative and referendum...but a majority of states U.S. States---26---DO. Even Mississippi allows minimal initiative...voters can collect enough signatures to place a constitutional amendment on their ballot.

     Groups like Alabama Arise support expanding Medicaid coverage in Alabama...so does the insurance industry. But it's not going anywhere with the current GOP dominated legislature, and even if the people wanted to vote on it, that's not allowed...unless the legislature decides to give more direct power to the people via initiative and/or referendum.