Amboy resident Thomas Schenk shares his thoughts on the one-party rule by Democrats in Olympia
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
So … Democrat one-party rule in Olympia strikes again.
Of the four hundred plus bills passed by the Legislature in Olympia this last session, forty-seven had an “emergency clause” included in the language of the bill.
Legislation passed in Olympia is usually subject to a referendum by citizens. The “emergency clause” in these forty-seven bills allows the passed legislation to take effect immediately, preventing citizens of Washington State from pursuing a remedy for such legislation through the referendum process.
Usually, once legislation is signed by the Governor, citizens have ninety days to initiate a referendum for voters to stop implementation of such legislation.
This “emergency clause” immediately implements a bill, short-circuiting the referendum process. With the referendum process now denied to citizens, the initiative process is the only other method voters have to try and walk back legislation.
I’ve heard Democrats, in the next session of the Legislature, will attempt to stymie any effort to start an initiative to overturn a bill which has taken effect due to the “emergency clause”, effectively silencing Washington citizens.
The Democrats will attempt to prevent such an initiative by passing legislation in the next session shortening the time allowed to gather signatures and to increase the number of signatures required to get it on the ballot.
The gist of all of this is Democrat one-party rule is curtailing the voice of Washington State citizens by using an “emergency clause” to have legislation take effect immediately, bypassing the voter’s option of a referendum against such legislation and, subsequently, if successful in changing the parameters of the initiative process, also impairing citizen’s use of that process to put the question before the voters of the State.
I understand there is one other “emergency clause” giving the Governor authority, based upon “factual scientific data” of a pandemic, which would force Washingtonians to be vaccinated or immunized against their will.
Who gets to decide exactly what “factual scientific data” is?
One-party rule gives Democrats the ability to stack a potential pool of experts with their own like-minded brethren, who would eagerly echo whatever Democrats were alleging.
We had so-called “factual scientific data” during Covid 19, which is now being revealed as not so “factually scientific”!
Most of Red State America is maintaining, or gaining ground, on the erosion of the rights of citizen’s voices to be heard and acknowledged by elected officials.
Aside from actually voting for Governor, state Senators, Representatives and other elected state officials, we now see Blue State Washington Democrats steadily eroding the ability of voters to affect changes to ill-conceived legislation.
Isn’t it great! Voters no longer have to worry about those pesky details of one-party legislation…that’s all decided now by omnipotent legislators, who know best on how to run yours and your family’s lives!
It’s said sarcasm is the lowest form of wit … I don’t think this situation is funny, but it’s sometimes necessary to make a point!
Thomas Schenk
Amboy
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