The NRA has endorsed Arizona's Proposition 109, supposedly to protect hunting and fishing rights in the state.
Exclusive authority to enact laws to regulate the manner, methods or seasons for hunting, fishing and harvesting wildlife is vested in the Legislature, which may delegate rule making authority to a game and fish commission. No law shall be enacted and no rule shall be adopted that unreasonably restricts hunting, fishing and harvesting wildlife or the use of traditional means and methods. Laws and rules authorized under this section shall have the purpose of wildlife conservation and management and preserving the future of hunting and fishing.
Sounds good? Paul Jacob has a different take.
(T)he only concrete change in policy regarding hunting and fishing that Arizona’s Proposition 109 will accomplish is ceding to the state legislature “exclusive authority” over all wildlife matters, completely removing the issue from citizens through the state’s initiative and referendum process.
In this political season, when an awake and justifiably angry electorate surveys their choices at the ballot box, Proposition 109 can best be summed up as a power grab by politicians. The Push the People Out Proposition.
The Arizona Constitution’s initial grant of legislative authority to the House and Senate is followed by these words: “but the people reserve the power to propose laws and amendments to the constitution and to enact or reject such laws and amendments at the polls, independently of the legislature, and they also reserve, for use at their own option, the power to approve or reject at the polls any act, or item, section, or part of any act, of the legislature.”
Proposition 109 says forget about all those silly checks and balances.
Adding insult to injury, Proposition 109 is a sneaky, back-door power grab by legislators. Most folks, like my friend, have only heard that this constitutional amendment will protect hunting and fishing. Barely a word has been uttered about Prop 109 carving the public out of any decision process.
"Huh?"
1 comment:
Great Post. Just the other day, a good friend and I were having that very discussion. Not about prop 109, but about the fact that the people have ZERO power when all authority is handed over to the faceless bureaucrats. People have been persuaded (by politicians) that they actually still retain the reigns of power via the voting booth. What a ruse. I hope Arizona realizes this before its to late.
Post a Comment