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DEAR EDITOR:
I hate to break it to letter writer Cathy Lukasko and her hard-right pals, but American democracy always has been based on simple majority rule. You know what you call the mayor who wins 50 percent of all votes plus one? You call them Mayor. I appreciate her definition of a demagogue, but I have no idea what former President Trump has to do with this.
I find it odd that Republicans, like that letter writer, want a 60 percent threshold to add to Ohio's Constitution, but will happily accept 50 percent plus one for this Issue 1 scam, and call it a win. This hypocrisy should infuriate anyone who isn't sucking down the Kool-Aid from Republican legislators.
They want you to think this all about sex changes for children and nine month, late-term abortions, because those are the hot red meat issues that their base has been tricked into thinking are coming down the pike. This fear-mongering ignores the past and what ballot initiatives have delivered for the residents of Ohio. Here's a few things that if Republicans get their way, might not have happened:
Legislative term limits. Yup! We have legislature term limits in Ohio thanks to a citizens ballot initiative! A ballot initiative also limited how long a governor can camp out in the Statehouse.
Ohio's minimum wage was raised in 2006, thanks to a ballot initiative. Remember, a rising tide lifts all boats!
Marcy's Law came to Ohio thanks to a ballot initiative. This gave victims of a crime the same constitutional rights as those accused of the crime.
Now that we have casinos all over the state, it might be beyond the memories of most to remember that a ballot initiative first gave Ohio casinos in Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. I'm sure even Republicans enjoyed gambling and job creation thanks to those projects!
Only 18 states allow their residents to amend a state's constitution through ballot initiatives. We in Ohio are privileged in this manner, and we should not lose this right thanks to the hard-right fringe that is currently controlling the Republican Party. Their mouthpieces on the local level should be shamed for spreading lies and misinformation. This isn't about "saving the Ohio Constitution." It is all about making it harder for the vast majority of normal, democracy-loving Ohio citizens to fight against the hard-right, anti-democracy movement that has infested the Ohio Statehouse and large swaths of the Republican Party.
JOSHUA NATIVO
Warren