Should California’s referendum law become harder to use?

Over the last decade, as Democrats achieved total control of the state government and their policies took a turn to the left, those who oppose the ideological trend have increasingly used the only avenue still available — ballot measures to overturn what legislators and governors have wrought.

Recent elections have seen a spate of initiatives (to write new laws) and referenda (to block legislative laws) sponsored by business interests to overturn the Capitol’s decrees. Proponents have included the tobacco, bail bond and plastics industries, as well as ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft.

Next year voters are certain to face two other business-sponsored measures: referenda by the fast food and oil industries to block newly enacted regulations on their operations. Others could be added.

Letters to the Editor

My ‘bird’en

EDITOR: and slave holders at some point in their histories.”

The raven in front of the grocery store in Pollock Pines had a broken wing. The thing to do was to buy some bird seed and get help. I remembered a veterinary hospital on the Pioneer Trail. El Dorado Disposal was collecting with its usual care along the narrow, snow-banked side street of small older homes of a company town. It looked so friendly, I wanted to move in.

In the ancient world slavery developed where a larger workforce was needed. Slaves were used to build ancient cities, fight wars, serve as domestic help and tend to crops. Wars produced many spoils, including domination of your foe and taking them as slaves. The oldest slave societies were the Mesopotamian and Sumerian civilizations located in Iraq/Iran between 6000-2000 BCE.

Summary

For instance, were Gov. Gavin Newsom to succeed in imposing fines on gasoline refiners for exceeding profit limits, another oil industry referendum is likely. New laws being challenged by referenda, including the two already headed for the 2024 ballot, are suspended until voters render final judgment.

Understandably, progressive politicians and their allies, particularly labor unions, dislike business use of ballot measures to thwart their legislative gains. As the syndrome has evolved, there have been e orts to make placing measures on the ballot more di cult.

A few systemic changes have been enacted, a ecting the process on the margin, but there hasn’t been a successful frontal assault. In 2018 then-Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have banned paying signature gatherers on a per-

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The Rural Life

In the vet’s o ce, a golden retriever was weighing himself. I swear to this. It gave the gracious receptionist a moment to look up the number of Sierra Wildlife Rescue, which should have been a tipo . Linnea answered the phone. “I get several calls a week about this raven. We have been monitoring him for years. Hides when he sees us coming. He is actually in good shape but for the wing; if that changes we will have to act. Once it took five people to hold him long enough for them to decide he was in better shape than they were.” Linnea said he has a raven family that looks out for him.

He was accompanied by one of them when I saw him at the store, looking around for eats in the tall snow drifts left by the plows.

ELIZABETH CAFFREY Placerville

California’s Pandora’s box

EDITOR:

California is considering paying Black Americans reparations for a host of wrongs, some not yet identified; others have no connection to the issue of slavery. However, they use slavery as the vehicle to justify reparations.

Larry Elder a Black media host describes reparations in this way, “Reparations is the extraction of money from people who were never slave owners to be given to people who were never slaves.”

Slavery has existed since mankind in varying forms in all parts of the world. Historian David Eltis said, “Almost all peoples have been both slaves

The African slave trade dates back to the 7th century, and was well established prior to the Europeans’ arrival in Africa. The slave trade was run by powerful African leaders. West and Central African elites and royalty relied on the slave trade to maintain wealth and status. They also held slaves as a sign of prestige.

These elites traded goods and slaves to the Islamic world for centuries. It is estimated Africans sold more than 11 million slaves to the Islamic world.

The Atlantic Slave trade opened the Americas to slaves starting around 1526 to 1867. The Portuguese and Spanish began exporting slaves to Brazil and the Caribbean. France soon joined, with the British, Dutch and Danes following.

Supporters of reparations have used slavery in an attempt to guilt Americans into paying for the mistakes of their ancestors. However, these supporters refuse to acknowledge the major role Africa played in the slave trade. It was Africans who waged war on and kidnapped their brethren. They raided and hunted down their racial kin, tearing apart families and selling their bodies and souls to the Arabs and Europeans. Some Africans betrayed and abandoned their own people and now their descendants want to be compensated for their ancestors’ acts of barbarism.

It is hypocritical there is no demand for reparations from the Arab, African or European countries.

Robert Brock, a champion for reparations said, “The government owes us money for the loss of our culture, earnings and humanity.”

Not all Blacks were stigmatized in the same way.

■ See LETTERS page A7