According to the headlines in the British
newspapers, on 23rd June, 2016, the United Kingdom will decide. That day, all registered UK voters will get their say
on whether we will remain in the European Union or secede. Remain or Leave:
will the vote be the end of the story? My belief is that, at best, it will be
the end of a chapter.
There are so many variables. For example,
if those who want to leave the EU, the so-called Brexiters, lose the vote in a
tight decision, their leaders will argue the Remain majority is small. They will
look for ways to do down the Conservative government, which is odd because the
vocal, leadership element of Brexit are almost all members of the government and
the Conservative Party. Old hands at American Party politics might say the
Conservative Party currently looks like the Democratic Party of old, as each side
of the former seeks to destroy the arguments of the other and looks not for
compromise.
Americans might wonder how the EU Referendum
works. After all, there is no American equivalent, or is there? Does America
have direct democracy? The federal government does not go to the whole of the
American people to ask for approval to a policy. Instead, Congress gets a
request to fund a program or pass a law and, if it does the latter, the Supreme
Court may get its say on whether that law is constitutional.
In the UK, a referendum is a means, rarely
used, for government to establish the will of the people and act accordingly. In
the 1970s, the Harold Wilson’s Labour government sought approval to the UK joining
the European Economic Community. Only last year, the Scots voted in a
referendum whether to remain part of the United Kingdom or go it alone.
Oddly, referenda are not binding on a
British government. Later this month, if the Leave element prevails, will the
current government act on the result and take us out, despite what Cameron says?
In this week’s House of Commons Prime Minister’s Question Time, Mr Cameron told
the House he would abide by the people’s decision. Whatever happens in the vote,
political blood will be spilled.
In America at federal level, I am unaware
that a referendum has ever been held. Over the years, America has argued huge
social issues like abortion and single sex marriage. The vast majority have
accepted that the issues need to be resolved by the U. S. Congress and, of
course, the Supreme Court.
Under the 10th Amendment, states’
rights apply to powers not expressly given to Congress. I have not researched
the powers reserved to each of the 50 states on referenda but an example is the
state of California which holds them in virtually every recent election. They
are called Propositions. In November, 2008, in a California state-wide ballot,
voters approved Proposition 8, eliminating rights of
same-sex couples to marry. The approval made same-sex marriage illegal in
California.
A referendum is direct
democracy in action. The people, not their representatives, decide. Direct
democracy has been practised in America at city and town level for more than a
century. Starting with Des Moines in 1907, the management of the city was
delegated to a professional town manager, who reported to the elected board of
aldermen. The new Des Moines charter brought many changes. One was that ordinance
proposals would be included at elections as the subject of referendums, “if
proposed by petition, subject to rules for advertisement, inspection and
suspension.” So, if there were enough votes on a petition and if other rules
were observed, the people of Des Moines got their say. Since 1907, most
American cities and towns have changes their charters and adopted referenda
rights.
I find it
interesting that we in Britain used referenda only at national level but in
America it is used usually by towns and cities and occasionally a state. I
suppose one could argue that the Presidential election, which nominates candidates
from each major political party to run against each other. Effectively, this is
a referendum. Isn’t politics interesting!
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