To the editor:
Aug. 8 is not typically an Election Day, but this year it is. A special Election Day. Ohio will go to the polls on a simple question that has disappointingly been confused and conflated: How should Ohioans go about changing the Ohio Constitution?
Today, the Ohio Constitution has loose parameters for how it may be changed by us -- the citizens of Ohio. Since the 1800s, Ohio voters have had the right under the state constitution to present "initiatives" on the ballot. An initiative proposes an amendment to either the Ohio Constitution or Ohio Revised Code-- though the former outpaces the latter in popularity by a landslide. If a majority (50 percent plus one) of voters in an election vote "yes" on an amendment, it is added to or changes the Ohio Constitution.
In contrast, consider a few numbers. It takes two-thirds of Congress and three-quarters of the states in the Union to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Eighteen states have initiatives. Ten states let initiatives pass by a simple majority vote (50 percent plus one.) Forty other states either have no initiative at all or an elevated threshold above a simple majority for an amendment to pass. While these numbers do not immediately conclude that Ohio is treating initiatives wrong and has been for more than 100 years, it should at least give cause for pause when considering the issue at hand.
In that pause, one may consider the political wisdom of James Madison in his Federalist Papers No. 10. I highly recommend giving it a read whether you have staked your camp on Issue 1 already, are doing your due diligence as a citizen or if only for its historical significance. Madison argues that "factions" are a terrible "vice" and "disease" that plagues the people of our great nation. By faction, he is referring to a group, whether a minority or majority, that is not interested in protecting the rights of all people but instead promoting their special interests. It intends to sacrifice the common good -- those things we accept as essential to being human -- for the sake of pipe-dreams and prevailing, yet changing, attitudes.
As evidence, Madison notes that history if full of examples where pure democracies failed. Majority factions willingly committed grave human rights violations against those who held minority opinions. Let Ohio not be the next victim of faction. To protect ourselves from political fighting that may break our state's unity, we should consider how to reunite people from all walks of life. The Ohio Constitution should unite us around basic rights, not break us over partisan politics.
While Ohio has succeeded in this since its admittance to the Union, we are well aware that controversial initiatives will be presented on the ballot in November. On Aug. 8, we can decisively vote faction out of Ohio. A yes vote protects the freedoms we have enshrined for 220 years. A no vote may spark the factious violence our land does not deserve.
Alex McKenna
Steubenville