On Tuesday April 17^th, Many communities placed referendums on their respective ballots concerning, among other things school districts, libraries, and parks. In the city of Peoria, we had two referendums, both non-binding. The first was whether the city should issue $35 mil in bonds to upgrade the public library system. The second was to advise the state of Illinois whether it should ban smoking in all indoor public places. Both referendums passed overwhelmingly. My question is are any referendums really legal?

“Republic: a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.”

“Democracy:government by the people; especially : rule of the majority.”

Webster’s Dictionary

At the close of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked “What do we have?” to which he replied “A Republic, if you can keep it.” In a Republic, the rights of the minority are usually protected, but in a true Democracy, this is never the case. In a Republican form of government, the will of the majority is given the same weight as the will of the minority. The issues are debated, a compromise is sought, and the will of all the people is represented. In a Democracy, the will of the majority rules and the will of the minority is given little of no thought. This keeps the Majority in power and the minority has no voice. Democracies tend to lead to insurrection at some point in time.

So, when duly elected officials skirt their duties by issuing referendums, they have essentially created a Democratic form of government. Again, I ask is this legal? Well, so far it is. The Supreme Court has time and again refused to hear this matter. Personally, I’d rather be able to hold elected officials accountable than to have a mostly uneducated public vote on referendum issues. The good news for Peoria is that both referendums are non-binding, which means our elected officials still have the opportunity to consider the will of ALL the people.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 at 6:27 pm and is filed under City Council, District 150, Election 2007, Referendum, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.