5 Thoughts on Issue 1

I have been mostly trying to avoid thinking or posting about politics lately.  Let's just say I was really jaded by the vitriol and propaganda from both sides during the COVID years.  However, a special election in August with only one issue on the ballot was enough to peak my interest, so I've been doing my due diligence and mulling over Issue 1.  Here are 5 thoughts on Issue 1.

Firstly, my initial reaction when reading the actual language of the proposed amendment was Meh.  As voracious as both sides have been, this issue is hardly as black and white as they're making it to be.  I am leaning a certain way, but I can see the validity to both sides of the debate.

Secondly, the fact that Progressives really, really want me to vote No makes we want to vote Yes.  I generally avoid defining myself by what I oppose, but occasionally the most convincing argument in favor of a proposition is the people who are threatened by it.  In fact, before I knew anything at all about Issue 1, I assumed I would want to support it simply because of the vehemence with which several of my Progressive friends were opposing it.

Thirdly, I don't think I've ever seen such a convoluted campaign over an Issue.  The Progressives have been using sensational language designed to scare and manipulate.  The Conservatives have been little, if any, better.  Neither side seems to want to discuss the actual political merits of Issue 1.  It is proper to consider the potential impact of a proposed political idea, but when our vote is purely motivated by the "what ifs" of an Issue, we probably aren't thinking straight about the propriety and wisdom of the idea itself. 

Fourthly, the Liberal slogan One Person, One Vote perfectly illustrates the civic illiteracy of the populace.  We do not believe in pure Democracy, either in Ohio or in the United States.  We believe in electing representatives who legislate on our behalf.  We do not believe in mob rule.  Mobs are too easy to rile with inflammatory rhetoric.

Fifthly and finally, Issue 1 is the height of political irony, a fact which seems lost on both sides.  You see, Issue 1 is, in fact, a proposed amendment to the Constitution of our fair State.  The Conservatives don't think you should be able to change our Constitution through a simple popular majority, so they're attempting to change the Constitution through a simple popular majority.  The Progressives think we need to preserve the right of a simple popular majority to decide major issues in our State, but they don't want to let a simple popular majority decide this major issue.

Somebody cue the Alanis.