tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144856674271066060.post7753512423453252822..comments2023-10-18T01:51:47.968-07:00Comments on The Remmers Report: Dueling BanjosJerry K. Remmershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06431399785911786408noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2144856674271066060.post-22057957966777136292009-05-21T23:40:41.431-07:002009-05-21T23:40:41.431-07:00Mr. Remmers;
I had the honor of sitting on a rese...Mr. Remmers;<br /><br />I had the honor of sitting on a research committee for the City Club of Portland. The subject of our research was the Initiative and Referendum in Oregon. As you may know, Oregon was considered a pioneer in the Initiative process, which was for years called The Oregon System. Oregon’s system is as open and pernicious as California’s. Like California’s it is also a sacred cow. Almost all the problems our two states have faced in the last decade can be directly attributed to the initiative process.<br /> <br />The Right in this country and particularly in the West has succeeded in persuading the electorate that they can have their cake and eat it too. At both the state and federal levels we have created fiscal systems which are designed to bring out the worst solutions to our current problems. People are told that they don’t have to pay for services they want and need.<br /> <br />As I age I have come to believe that Mencken’s aphorism about human problems was right on the money, “For every complex human problem, there is a solution which is simple, straightforward and wrong”. The Initiative systems in our two states are excellent illustrations of this.<br /><br />The Portland City Club Research Report can be found at the url below. It applies as much to California as Oregon. The scale of our problems may differ, but the end result is the same.<br /><br />http://www.pdxcityclub.org/pdf/Initiative_Referendum_2008.pdf<br /><br />I commend it to you. And not simply because I worked on it.<br /><br />Richard YorkRFYorkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09370379965788526986noreply@blogger.com