The Line is Here. No, Wait – Here. How About Here?
Posted by Robb Allen | Filed under Nanny Business, Non-Freedoms
Florida sucks. This November we have not 1, but 6 Constitutional Amendments to vote on. Lucky us, there was originally 9 to ponder over, but we’ve managed to whittle it down a few. Only one actually removes power from the state government but is worded in such a way that even I had misread it and was planning on ticking off No.
We’ve got deleting provisions that allow the Legislature to regulate private property of illegal aliens, preventing gays from being as miserable as heterosexuals, wind damage, land classification, waterfront assessment, and increasing taxes for community colleges.
It surprises me that there’s not a constitutional amendment to regulate the number of squares of toilet paper one can use when hitting the can. Heck, use the Florida Constitution instead, there’s enough pages to go around and it’s not like people aren’t metaphorically wiping their asses with it anyway.
Why people think that amending the constitution to give the state power into such private matters as what kind of insurance you might think about getting or determining what your land is worth or what it can be used for is beyond me. I want my constitution to recognize my rights, require that my representatives recognize them as well, and that’s all. “Prohibiting consideration of changes or improvements to residential real property which increase resistance to wind damage and installation of renewable energy source devices as factors in assessing the property’s value for ad valorem taxation purposes“, whatever the hell that means, isn’t a function of the Constitution.
The problem is that Floridians are treating their constitution as “living”, and this is what happens to living documents. They’re added onto constantly until the point where they’re unwieldy, impossible to comprehend, and thus useless in protecting your rights.
While I don’t think it will pass, Amendment #2 – preventing the state from having to honor a private contract between consenting parties – is dangerous insofar as it teaches the populace that in order to discriminate against those who’s views you don’t agree with that, all you have to do is get an amendment passed. That’s all fine and dandy when it’s not your ox being gored (and for the record, I’m not into the whole gay thing. Not my bag of tea, but I value rights enough to know that I must stand up for them even when they’re for a group I can’t relate to).
When you move the line that much, the fact that there is a line to being with gets diluted.
But hey! Free money for colleges!
Tags: amendments, people unclear of the concept, state constitutions
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October 21st, 2008
Florida may suck, but I’m still vacationing in Orlando. And Vero Beach.
Hooray warm weather!
October 21st, 2008
We have the same problem here in the Lone Star. Our constitution is constantly amended, and the amendments on the ballot are always worded to get the desired result. Fortunately our legislature only meets every other year, so we are not under a constant barrage of idiocy.