Reject them all

Republicans are abusing their power putting so many constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Republicans will tell you they oppose direct democracy. They don’t want people to be able to put initiatives and referendums on the ballot that would be binding and become law. They say they don’t want North Carolina to become California or Massachusetts and yet they keep putting constitutional amendments on the ballot that would be more binding than most initiatives. They’re abusing their power.

Republicans understand that they are slowly becoming a minority party in North Carolina so they’re trying to lock in their power through constitutional amendments. They not only oppose direct democracy. They are undermining representative democracy.

They’ve introduced measures to restrict the governor’s power because they know winning statewide elections will likely become more difficult for them in the future. They are at it again this year, trying to strip the governor of his right to appoint members to the state board of education. And because they know they will likely lose their veto-proof majorities, they’re also trying to limit the legislature’s ability to raise taxes and hamstring local government by limiting their ability to increase property taxes.

Constitutional amendments have been part of North Carolina governance for decades, but Republicans changed the nature of them. Democrats usually put up amendments that had to do with the structure of government. Most were boring and technical, though a few, like giving the governor the veto and allowing governors two terms, were more controversial, though not obviously partisan.

Republicans have changed the game, putting highly partisan and ideological measures to a binding vote. They’ve tried to strip power from the governor, limit access to the ballot box, and discriminate against minorities. They are taking advantage of their artificial super-majorities created by gerrymandering to try to motivate their base to go to the polls and lock in measures that sound good but are often harmful.

They also cluster these amendments in groups. They put six amendments on the ballot back in 2018 and it looks like they will have at least that many this year. Republicans seem to like to put them on the ballot in midterm years when their base might otherwise not show up.

I’ll vote against all of them on principle. Democrats should do the same. They are another example of Republicans abusing their power with artificial majorities that don’t reflect the will of the people. Just say no to constitutional amendments.