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Perspectives
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
editorial editor
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
Legislature tails to respect voters’ wishes
By sending Measure 16 back to the
voters as Measure 51, the Legislature
has insulted the decision-making
ability of Oregonians.
Once upon a time, there was a city called
Athens. In Athens, they had a system
known as democracy, in which all the
male citizens got together and voted on
the fate of their community.
Time passed. Athens got conquered many times
over for reasons historians still debate.
Eventually, a bunch of guys got tired of paying
taxes, so they revolted. The results of that revolu
tion were a new nation, the United States, and a
new system of government.
This system has at times been called a democra
cy. It is not. The United States is in fact a republic,
in which the citizens elect representatives. These
representatives then vote on the fate of their com
munity.
In Athens, people voted for whatever suited
their needs. In the United States, representatives
vote for the needs of whomever gives them the
most money. Both systems have their flaws.
In many Western states, an attempt to compen
sate for these flaws has been made — the referen
dum. In a referendum, voters decide upon legisla
tion themselves, rather than trusting the legislature
to screw it up for them.
Oregon, as you probably know, is one of these
states. Recently, however, it seems the Legislature
has decided that, if the voters make decisions
themselves, corporations will give less money to
the representatives.
Or not. Regardless, the Oregon Legislature has
directly altered or contradicted the wishes of the
voters by “fixing” laws passed by the initiative
process.
One such bill, Measure 47, was placed back on
the ballot as Measure 50. The measure was a new
and improved tax cut, one less likely to flunk a
constitutional test and more likely to conceal the
real cost of the ignorance of Oregon’s voters.
Worse, the Legislature further insulted the voters
by changing Measure 50 after it had already been
placed on the ballot, essentially proclaiming that
the voters were little more than a rubber stamp for
legislative needs.
Now, the Oregon Legislature has topped itself. In
1994, the voters narrowly passed Measure 16,
which legalized doctor assisted suicide.
At the urging of Gov. John Kitzhaber, among oth
ers, the Legislature took up the issue. The idea was
that it would do to Measure 16 what it did to Mea
sure 47 — fix some of the questionable language
while, in theory, leaving the voters’ intent intact.
Instead, the Legislature decided we hadn't done
our homework and sent Measure 16 back to the
ballot as Measure 51. A yes vote on 51 would over
turn 16, maintaining the status quo in Oregon,
where assisted suicide is currently illegal.
Regardless of the merits of assisted suicide
(which will be addressed in Tuesday’s Emerald),
we think Measure 51 should be rejected as insult
#>0'
AW EMERALD EDITORIAL
_Part 1 of 2_
ing to the voters of Oregon.
If the Legislature was concerned with ambigui
ties contained within Measure 16, it should have
addressed those concerns differently. Either by
lobbying during the initial vote or by recommend
ing changes in the wording of the measure, the Leg
islature could have improved the law without vio
lating the wishes of Oregon’s voters.
Instead, Oregon’s official lawmakers have decid
ed to bar all those without an office in Salem from
participating in the legislative process. The prece
dent set by the Measure 51 fiasco is frightening;
each time a law passes that the Legislature does not
favor, it can simply send it back to the voters.
The situation is rather like a teacher standing in
front of a classroom, asking her students questions:
"Does anyone here have an opinion on assisted
suicide?”
"Yes, I’m in favor of it.”
Sorry, Timmy. That’s wrong. Let’s try again.”
The voters of Oregon did their homework in
1994. Despite being overwhelmingly outspent, the
proponents of Measure 16 won. Assisted suicide
should be legal by now. Instead, all the citizens of
Oregon have received is another insult from their
representatives.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald ed
itorial board. Responses may be sent to
ode@oregoti. u Oregon. edu.
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TO PORTLAND:
The city already
has a taw requiring
alt its agencies to
treat people of
every sexual orien
tation equally. Now
it has proposed ex
panding this law to
include businesses
contracted to do
workforthecrty.lt
makes no sense to
allow companies
to treat employees
differently because
of whom the em
ployees sleep with,
and Portland has
taken an important
step in expanding
common sense.
TO CASSINI:
The probe, which
will explore Sat
urn, contains more
than SO pounds of
plutonium. NASA
insists this plutoni
um is perfectly
safe and there is
no risk of it conta
minating the Earth.
This is the same
NASA that insisted
the space shuttle
could never blow
up. It is also the
same NASA that
has seen two rock
ets explode on the
launch pad or
shortly after liftoff
in the last couple
years. The risk of
radiation from
Cassini maybe
very low, but the
scientific need to
send a probe to
Saturn is even low
er. Why risk the
entire Earth for a
little planet watch
ing?
TO THE ADD
DROP DEADLINE:
While we agree
with administrative
concerns about
getting into class
es after two or
three weeks, we
don’t think a week
is long enough to
get a clear idea of
how a class wilt af
fect your workload
or what a profes
sor will be like. If
students are hav
ing a hard time
getting classes,
policies concern
ing wait lists and
expanded class
sizes need to be re
fined and clarified.