Ohio voters are being asked to give up majority rule. The official polling day is Aug. 8, but early voting has already begun.
The politicians in the statehouse are telling us that they’re worried about what might happen in November – a vote about “reproductive rights.” But I’m not buying that. After all, this is, by all accounts I’ve read, a so-called “red” state. As a Republican, I’m not worried about November. And I don’t think the politicians are, either. They’re just using it as a scare tactic to further their strategic, long-term goal – reducing the power of Ohio’s voters.
This issue was not proposed and put on the ballot by the voters of this state, who would have had to collect hundreds of thousands of valid voter signatures on a petition to get it on the ballot. It was created by the politicians in the legislature. This issue, if passed by us, the voters, would take away our own fundamental right of one person, one vote whenever an amendment to the Ohio Constitution is proposed.
In his address at Gettysburg in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln characterized what he called “a great civil war” being waged that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” It’s notable that this revered Republican politician did not say that government was of, by, or for politicians.
In my opinion, we must tell our elected representatives and senators that they are not our bosses, and that we will not give up our right to majority rule.
I’ll vote no on Issue 1 on Aug. 8.
Michael Newcomer
Delaware
