Late last week, I had the privilege and honor of speaking with Ron Givens, President of the Republican Assembly in Sacramento, California, at length about the project called “Neighborhood Legislature Initiative” which if passed in November, could affect the balance of power in California and the method by which Members of the Assembly and the State Senate are chosen in the future.
Presently, the man or woman with the most backers and the larger campaign war chest gets elected and re-elected again. The incumbent is no longer beholden to the voter/constituent. Instead, he becomes beholden and "owned" by the lobbyist, power broker and the party bosses.
The premise of the Neighborhood Legislature is to bring the selection method back to the grassroots to the people and remove the special interests. Mr. Givens has written and spoken about this idea for years. Along with the efforts and work of John Cox, Founder and Chairman of the initiative and other Coordinators in order to be on the ballot in November, 2014, the initiative has to accumulate a total of 680,000 qualified registered voters from all political parties by May 18, 2014.
I have provided websites for you to visit to obtain further information in regard to volunteering in this effort and to donate to the cause.
Get Connected | Neighborhood Legislature
Ron Givens is Right!
I found Mr. Givens to be an engaging and passionate man, who sincerely believes in this idea. He understands that most people feel left out of the election process because people feel their voice and vote make no difference in the governmental process. He believes this concept will give the people back their voice.
He believes that with 12,000 seats in the Neighborhood Legislature, spread throughout the state in the various Assembly Districts, the people will hold the power and not the politicians as our Founding Fathers believed it should be. If you review the Federalist Papers, you will see what was intended for the States and the Country. This proposition, if passed, would return California to the idea of “one man, one vote” and not the way our "leaders" are chosen now.
Ultimately, the idea of the security of incumbency will be transfixed. The premise which our Founders sought and put forward was that elected officials serve for a time and then return to private life applying the skill and knowledge they accumulated to make their neighborhoods, towns and cities better places to live, and also, in helping and urging others to want to do public service. This was not intended to be a "civil service" job that one has for 30 or 40 years or until they are physically unable do it perform anymore or die at the desk.
We discussed so many topics that I believe I can use in other commentaries in the near future. For now, I recommend that you look at the proposition and see if it can be applied to your state. As one who studied Political Science and History I can assure you that this is the right process to implement at state level and eventually as the process to select our Representatives and Senators for Congress.
I have said it before and will repeat that old adage, "As California goes, so goes the Nation."
Perhaps then the PEOPLE'S BUSINESS will be done and not some impersonal, uncaring and selfish special interest.
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