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We the People, Put Amendment 4 on the November Ballot

The Bradenton Times

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Guest Editorial: We the People, Put Amendment 4 on the November Ballot

This July 4th we have an extra reason to honor our Declaration of Independence and our Constitutional right to petition - Amendment 4 is finally on the ballot.

Hometown Democracy’s Amendment 4 guarantees future changes to our growth management plans will have to be approved by local voters, instead of just politicians. This is a huge step in bridging the same disconnect our founding fathers suffered – that is, the disconnect between the ruling government elite and those that pay the bills. For those new to Amendment 4, this citizen petition amendment gives local voters a chance to stop reckless changes to their growth plans, changes that are then followed by ruinous and illogical zoning changes.

Examples include changing conservation land to a strip mall, land set aside for a neighborhood school into a Wal-Mart, or a small local marina into a 20-story condo. These changes also come with huge tax increases to expand the road, utility, and school infrastructure that had previously been up to par and already paid for.

Our 1776 Declaration of Independence shows an ironic timelessness when compared to Amendment 4, which is Floridians’ own declaration of independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Who looks out for your rights when land-use changes ruin your neighborhood and crash your home’s value?

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Politicians haven’t feared losing power because they hide simple changes in techno babble so as not to anger too many people at once.

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” What better way protect our community character and neighborhood quality than for residents to cast the deciding vote on major changes to their community?

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” Do we need to crash our economy again to show that “electing better politicians” is never going to be possible until we put the final decision on land use out of their reach?

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations (predatory growth plan changes) pursuing invariably the same Object (parasitic speculation) evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, (urban blight, loss of neighborhood schools and libraries), it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” Amendment 4 will provide security for residents and businesses already here and also those we want to invest their future with us. Economic stability will follow, and then market-based growth instead of the hollow, speculative kind.

“Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain (local power brokers and politicians) is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."

Speculators, developers, and politicians can no longer defend their big lie that growth always pays for itself. If that was true, then local governments would be swimming in money. Instead these land-speculators, developers, and the politicians who are unduly influenced by them have crashed our economy.

The irony in the historical and modern betrayals is undeniable. Amendment 4 is Florida’s declaration of independence from pay-to-play politics. Don’t get tricked into letting it fail.