|
|
So
what’s in
these
National
Initiative
tapes
anyway?...
Glad
you asked.
Read
on and you’ll learn some of what’s in the National Initiative tapes: NI 9801 -- NI 9804
The
Push for a National Initiative Tape NI 9801.
(Former US Senator Mike Gravel (D) Ak & Ed Koupal).
If America adopts the National Initiative Process into its
political process, these two men will be remember for initiating it. Issues covered include:
Overview of People’s Lobby history -- Clean Environment
and Campaign Reform Initiatives, anti-nuclear campaigns and start of National Initiative campaign.
Senator Gravel on filibustering to end the draft, his
publishing of the Pentagon Papers,
Alaskan Oil pipeline, Watergate cover-up, differences between inherent and delegated political power,
structural traps of our political system, the need for representative governments
and its shortcomings, how today’s technology offers America an opportunity to
add the National Initiative as a step toward governance maturity; funding a National Initiative campaign. Louis Kelso’s Binary Economics program to
democratize capitalism and its cousin,
CSOPs (Consumer Stock Ownership Plans) connected to coming utility deregulation as a possible
means to fund a National Initiative Campaign.
Philadelphia
II’s National Initiative Tape 9802
How long do major political changes take? Should people have access to the tools of
Direct Democracy -- initiative, referendum and recall on a national level? Is initiative
maturation a better answer to governmental
gridlock than devolution? Perot’s stand on National Initiative
movement.
Are initiatives too complicated
for voters? The progressiveness of
people initiated initiatives. Tools
proposed for Philadelphia II’s National Initiative Process: phone registration for life, week long
voting, qualifying national initiative law via polls rather than signature
gathering, public hearings, qualified initiative change process, advisory vote,
Electoral Commission, voting pamphlets, media program, financing and
majoritarian vote. National Initiative
Process for Constitutional changes with a
more difficult two vote process.
Others commenting on National Initiative Process: Dan Lowenstein, first Director of Fair
Political Practices Commission and UCLA Professor, Roger Jon Diamond, former
People’s Lobby attorney, John Davies,
political consultant.
Gravel
Argues for National Initiative Tape
9803
(Before the 1995 Washington State Supreme Court)
Review of 9th, 10th and 14th amendments. Are “people the source of all political
power?” Is the traditional
Constitutional Amendment process the only means of adding a National Initiative
to our Constitution or can it be done through people’s “inherent constituent
power.”
|
|
Some questions raised in Philadelphia Corporation v. Gregoire,
October 27, 1995: Is the wave of the
future, increased “people” participation in “representative government.” Do “the people” need permission to decide
questions regarding initiative procedures from their appointed representative
or government bureaucrats? Does
Philadelphia II’s National Initiative Process exceed the scope of Washington’s
legislative authority? Do state
officials have a responsibility to title a people’s initiative even though the Attorney General doesn’t
consider it to be an initiative? Is the
example of our Founding Fathers tossing the Articles of Confederation to
establish the Constitution analogous to using state procedures to establish a
National Initiative Process?
The
Initiative and National Initiative Tape
9804
(Edwin Koupal at Santa Barbara City College)
A hint of what made Edwin Koupal tick and how he planted the seeds of the growing contemporary initiative movement. People’s Lobby’s learning curve regarding signature gathering and politics from the Clean Environment Initiative defeat of 1972 and subsequent initiatives. Why only the ballot and laws make real change. Some People’s Lobby lawsuits: Allioto’s conflict of interest, Senator Carpenter’s financial disclosure, Assemblyman Gonzalez’s campaign disclosure, Standard Oil’s F310 hoax, 18 year olds right to vote from residence, right to petition government on shopping centers. On initiatives: Governor Hiram Johnson’s 1911 campaign for people’s right to have the initiative process. Why oil rich Santa Monica has no oil wells. The (then) 27th Amendment movement for a National Initiative Process. Why People’s Lobby type organizations could run on a low budget. Why issue campaigns are different from candidate campaigns. Controversy and issues. Chaos and attention span. Sloganeering and education. Voter pamphlets and opinion leaders. National Initiative Process as part of presidential candidates’ platforms. The opening and close of this tape helps explain how the drive and charisma of the Koupals formed a rare grassroots organization that produced significant changes in the state of California and planted the seeds of the National Initiative Process on the national agenda..