http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/04/stadium-boondoggle-postponed-by.html
Stadium Boondoggle Postponed by Hennepin County
The Stadium boondoggle was postponed for a week by the <http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/5370199.html>Hennepin County board. It's time for people to call and email their county commissioners.
My post about the stadium boodoggle drew a fair amount of comment. I asked the question about where the Taxpayer's League was on this. The Taxpayer's League does oppose taxpayer funded/financed stadiums, but they've been relatively quiet about the issue. "No new taxes" Pawlenty has said he doesn't think this one needs a referendum (perhaps because it socks it to Hennepin County residents), while threatening to veto a gas tax increase without a referendum attached.
Steve has a good question: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/lloydletta/111438252513289790/
When is a referendum a good idea, and when is it not? It's a puzzle. Perhaps it's a good idea if the issue is a piddling little tax that most of us won’t notice, but it's a bad idea if the issue is amending the Minnesota Constitution to ban gay marriage or civil unions, as proposed by that moral cipher Michele Bachmann. So, the more important the issue, the less desirable it is to submit it to the public for a vote. That seems unsatisfactory, somehow.
Laying aside the fact that the gay marriage/civil unions ban involves a serious, fundamental issue of equal protection of all citizenswhich of course is why it is different than a tax of three cents on a twenty dollar purchasehow do we decide how and when to restrain majoritarian impulses for the benefit of a minority interest, business interests, or just baseball fans?
As I said, it's a puzzle; there has to be a rule out there somewhere between representative government only with resort to the ballot box in the case of citizen grievance on the one hand, and a California initiative and referendum regime where the voters can decide everything including the school lunch menu on the other. California in general and it educational system in particular have not profited from the state’s periodic initiative and referendum melees.
Perhaps Lloydletta can rescue us from the conundrum. Steve
Craig Westover states <http://craigwestover.blogspot.com/2004/09/column-government-should-stay-out-of.html>more articulately than I can about why it is that it's not a good idea to put the Bachmann amendment on the ballot:
One final point: The notion that the question of "gay marriage" is subject to majority rule is wrong. A basic American premise is that the majority cannot deny unalienable rights to minorities, and choosing a life partner is indeed an unalienable right. Banning gay marriage is the same level of government intrusion as the state legislating the number of children a couple may have based on government's judgment of the couple's ability to support them.
Liberty involves risk. One's ability to live life as he or she chooses is best served by ensuring that government cannot interfere in private decisions even if that means enabling others to live their lives in a manner that one may or may not agree with or even regard as morally correct.
I would urge those with moral objections to "civil unions" to step back for a moment and separate the properly private and properly legal aspects of the debate. The proper question is not, "Do gay couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples?" The proper question is, "Does government have the legitimate authority to deny gay couples the legal rights granted to heterosexual couples?" To the proper question I say that although a tyrannical majority may usurp government power to deny such rights, it certainly does not have legitimate moral authority to do so.
There is precident for doing referendums on school bonding and library bonding projects in Minneapolis. There a much stronger case for public schools and libraries being a legitimate role of government than public subsidy for professional sports.
At the same time, I also think the Hennepin County board should put this plan out of it's misery rather than pushing it to the voters. I really resent politicians who don't live in Hennepin County being the loudest cheerleaders for raising the taxes of those who do. I work near downtown Minneapolis, and taxes on restaurants in the area are already way out of line. We don't need any more - especially for this purpose. If we are going to pay that tax, I'd much rather have it go towards transit projects.
Eva Young Near North Minneapolis [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
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