No on Amendment 71

One thing is for certain in this life, when you get a bunch of corporate CEOs huddled
together in shuttered rooms, many of them out-of-state oil men, the public should be
on guard.
Well, folks, get your guard up. Colorado’s one percent has hatched a plan to take
away our right to legislate by means of the ballot initiative.
The right to initiative, sometimes called direct democracy, was added to our
constitution in 1910 by an overwhelming vote of the people, 76 percent for. It gave
to us the right to author legislation and to seek fellow citizen approval at the ballot
box. The courts have described it as a first right, superior even to the legislature’s
right to legislate. It was meant as a curb on unresponsive or corrupt
government. To many, 2016 looks a lot like 1910, for this too is an age of tycoons
and corporate monopoly.
The 1 percent has dubbed their scheme, Raise the Bar, and its message is already
plastered all over the corporate news outlets. After all, if you have 10’s of millions of
dollars in your war chest, you can buy a lot of time and propaganda.
The sales pitch is that we-the-people have too much influence over government–
that we’ve been using our powers to write legislation at a mad-cap rate, and that in
so doing we’re destroying the sanctity of our state constitution—that, in fact, the
constitution should be treated as a religious relic, the province of the anointed few.
If you feel you have too much power over government and the corporations not
enough, then vote for Raise the Bar. But if you think big money rules politics in this
state and country, and that your voice goes largely disregarded except on electionday,
then you must vote against Raise the Bar.
Indeed, if you think the constitution is a religious relic that only the high priests of
government should have the right to change, then vote for Raise the Bar. But if you
think our constitution should be a living document that must change with the needs
of the people, then you must vote against Raise the Bar.
And if you think we-the-people need no direct defense against corrupt government,
then vote for Raise the Bar. But if you think corporate money has corrupted the
democratic process and that the initiative is an essential defense, then you must
vote against Raise the Bar.
Please vote against 71. Nothing less than your right to participate directly in
government is at stake.
Phil Doe
Environmental Director
Be The Change – USA