Dennis Polhill contributed to The Battle over Citizen Lawmaking: A Collection of Essays, authoring Chapter One: Democracy’s Journey (original version of Democracy’s Journey prior to editing). From the Publisher: There is little doubt that in recent…
Category: Initiative and Referendum
Some Facts about the Colorado Constitution
Some Facts about the Colorado Constitution Compiled for Colorado Constitution Panel By Dennis Polhill, March 4, 2008 [email protected] Colorado’s Constitution is average. Between 1912 and 2005 (93 years) the citizens of Colorado…
Are Coloradans Fit to Make Their Own Laws
A Common Sense Primer on the Initiative Process By Dennis Polhil Introduction On Election Day, Nov. 5, Colorado citizens will exercise their right to vote not only in electing candidates but also…
Whose Government Is It? (Initiative Process)
Opinion Editorial By Dennis Polhill, Chris Baker Great strides in the evolution of human existence are rare. One of those great strides occurred 223 years ago this month. Thomas Jefferson, the 33…
Insubordinate Legislators
Opinion Editorial By Dennis Polhill Every two years the State of Colorado accuses hundreds of thousands of its citizens of violating election laws. This accusation is implicitly made when signatures on initiative…
Empty Oaths
Opinion Editorial By Dennis Polhill Most Colorado legislators will violate their oath of office soon after swearing it on January 10, 2001. The legislators will knowingly subvert the state Constitution’s provision which…
Murder the Messenger (Legislators Squash Ballot Initiatives)
Opinion Editorial By Dennis Polhill, Melissa Moses It could be argued that government under Soviet communism was less hypocritical than America’s. The Soviets made no pretense about democracy, representation, accountability, competitive elections…
Representatives or Retributionists
Opinion Editorial By Dennis Polhill Life would be so much more pleasant for Colorado elected officials if they could somehow figure out how to be representatives of the people. Their failure to…
Thwarting Petitions
Feudal rulers have always preferred dutiful servants. Things have not been the same since Magna Carta in 1215 first guaranteed the right to petition about grievances. The nuisance of citizen involvement in…
Taking The Initiative
Denver Post, January 3, 1999 Petitions underscore people’s right By Dennis Polhill Initiative and referendum, or “petition rights,” reinforce the ideal that the people are sovereign. As declared in 1776, “governments are…