Watson's Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 2, April, 1906Various
History
Watson's Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 2, April, 1906
Various
United States -- Politics and government -- Periodicals
Reformers will watch with great interest this new experiment in third
party politics. By limiting the demand to a constitutional convention
and the initiative and referendum, and proposing to endorse such of the
reliable candidates as pledge for the people’s sovereignty, the program
is largely that of a Referendum League, plus the possibility of making
an independent nomination. But a league can circulate nomination papers;
in fact, every league impliedly stands ready to do so, if necessary. One
thing is clear; that the _Pennsylvania situation was such that the change
to a Referendum Party put life and vigor into the referendum movement_.
Not only were hundreds of enthusiastic offers of support sent in, it is
said, and from every quarter of the state, but leaders in the minority
party and in the Lincoln party were brought to a point where they found
it desirable to take immediate notice of the organization.
One reason for this is that the granges in the state, large in number and
strong in membership, and organized labor, have not only declared for the
initiative and referendum, but are systematically questioning candidates
and publishing their replies. All that is needed to give great political
power to these voters is an organization that stands ready to nominate
referendum candidates. The mere existence of such an organization will
accomplish most of its purposes. In this connection the experience of Jo
A. Parker, in Kentucky, described above, should be borne in mind; also
the fact that the People’s Party Conference of 1902 at Louisville almost
adopted the program which Mr. Parker applied in Kentucky the following
year. But in states where the minority party is under progressive
leadership it is probable that a State Referendum League is the best
possible instrument.
Isn’t it clear that the thing for the People’s Party to do is to complete
at once the establishment of the initiative and referendum in America by
going at it through the Kentucky or Pennsylvania program? Or that the
workers in a state should organize an Initiative and Referendum League?
If we review the foregoing pages several things become clear:
1. That machine rule can be terminated and the people’s sovereignty
re-established without waiting to change the written constitution. All
that is required is a majority vote in the city council, legislature
or congress. By this means an advisory-vote system can be established
and then the candidates for public office can be pledged to obey the
will of their constituents when expressed by referendum vote. This is
merely the re-establishment of a direct vote system for instructing
representatives—a system as old as representative government itself. The
President of the United States is selected through an advisory vote by
the people and public questions are also being determined by advisory
vote; for example, municipal ownership of street railways in Chicago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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