Normally, I'm cynical about online petitions. In this case, though, the people working to head off efforts to increase the influence of money and partisanship on our judicial selection need to demonstrate that they can reach and motivate a significant number of Missouri voters. Many of the political consultants in Jefferson City believe that this complex issue is over the heads of average voters, and that they can get away with injecting more partisanship into our judicial selection.Now is the time to shape the understanding of those who want to undermine the Missouri Plan. Now is the time to let them know that a significant bloc of us are watching. Now is the time to let them know that their political football is a hot potato.
Please go here and sign the online petition. It's a rare opportunity to define the terms of an important debate and head off pointless fights. There are a lot of members of the General Assembly who are on the fence on this issue, and if they see that 1500 Missourians are watching, they'll back away from it now, before it really gets started.
3 comments:
DO NOT ENDORSE PROTECTJUSTICE.COM
If you click on the link in Dan’s article that says “Please go here and sign the online petition”, you will see a quote by Chip Robertson in the upper right.
Read more about Chip Robertson in this article entitle: Chip Robertson Working With Gun Rights Opponents, Radical Critics of General Petraus [sic], and World’s Wealthiest Radical Activists
The truth is judicial selection currently involves partisan politics. It always has, and always will. Even if you took all of those that meet the qualifications to be a judge, put their names in a hat, and blindly pulled a name; the judge has his or her own partisan political views.
Not everyone that wants to see a change in the Missouri Plan wants the change so that the politics of the court changes. I sure don’t!
The court should not be a political entity. It should be a source of knowledge and wisdom. An institution that honors precedent and constitutional restraint. No matter how a judge attains his or her position on the bench, their political views should be checked before they put on their robe. Failure to do so is failure of the man, not the robe.
The Missouri Bar Association, and its member lawyers want to retain something they never should have been awarded; dominating control over a branch of our government. I don’t blame them for not wanting to give that up.
Adoption of the Missouri Plan took place during a time of fear. Fear that the government was being controlled by the likes of Tom Pendergast. Fear was used to encourage the voters of Missouri to place the selection of the judiciary into the hands of a select few. Now, fear is being used to try to maintain it. Fear of financial influence. Fear of political influence.
The two blogs hosting this article are gonemild.com and CCP blog. Both are run by lawyers. Both are very political. In fact, lawyers are probably the most politically active profession in our country. These politically active lawyers have elections, within the Missouri Bar, to decide who is going to serve on the judicial selection committee. Partisan politics is involved, it’s just limited to a certain class.
I don’t consider lawyers to be evil because they want to retain this control. I consider them to be human. Like most of us, we trust ourselves to do a better job than if we leave it to someone else. Who can do your job better than you? Most people would probably say “no one”; if they really care about doing their job to the best of their abilities. However, this is not the way our country is run.
We live in the U.S.A. The people run their government, or at least that’s the way it is supposed to be. We do it thru democracy and elected representation. The Missouri Plan, as it currently operates, places control of our Judiciary in the hands on the members of the Missouri Bar, by a 4-3 margin. The Governor’s nod is only a token display of representation.
If you look around, the blogs that are supporting the Missouri Plan are run by lawyers. The groups defending the Plan are run by lawyers. IF you look at Islamic Extremist websites, I’ll bet they support Bin Laden. I believe that those sites are genuine in their support too.
I take a lot of abuse from the attorneys on these blogs for trying to restore control of our government to the people. I almost expect it. Have you ever had to take something dangerous from a child that was playing with it? They cry. They tell you they hate you. – Don’t they? The control of our Judiciary should never have been relinquished by the voters, and we can’t leave it with the Bar just because we don’t want them to cry. (I’m not insinuating that lawyers are like children. I’m attempting to display that people will yell, scream and fight when you try to take something they want away from them)
If you want to support the current Missouri Plan just because a liberal activist told you to support it. – You are already using partisan politics to select the judges. The same goes if you promote changes in the Plan because it is the conservative thing to do. Think and vote for yourself. DO a little research. If you believe that an oligarchy is the best form of government, you should push for a constitutional amendment. (Wait a minute. We already have an oligarchy. It was accepted as the Missouri Plan) There is plenty of time before the November ballot.
This is not written to offend. My opinions are sincere. Will Socrates be proven correct?
Sorry, Pal, you've gone around the bend. You might not be trying to offend, but apparently it comes naturally to you. Comparing the Bar to al Qaeda is, well, fucking nuts. No other way to put it.
You've been proven wrong on point after point, time after time. Why don't you give up and go away? Or, at least, stop posting bogus links. Are you afraid someone will read it and realize that you are a tin-foil hatted dingbat?
BTW, I'm not a lawyer. I'm not in the CCP, for that matter.
Now, I realize I'm being a bit personal here, but I want people to be careful in how they view you.
By all means, though, I encourage people to look into your rants and your previous comments. Pay attention to the paranoia and the conspiracy theories. Pay attention to the constant personalization of the issues. Pay attention to the way you never respond when you're proven wrong - you just make up another point.
I've done my own research, and I signed up for the protect justice petition.
Socrates...
I apologize if you took the Islamic Extremist reference as a comparison to the Bar. That was not my intent. I was pointing out that support by your own members not only lacks independence, but is to be expected.
I did not intend to post a bogus link. It was removed by the blog.
Apparently this blog no longer supports hyperlinks. Try following the direct URL
http://mopns.com/2007/12/28/chip-robertson-working-with-gun-rights-opponents-radical-critics-of-general-petraus-and-worlds-wealthiest-radical-activists/
And Socrates...if you really are honest and honorable, why don't you pick a username and stick with it? Then maybe people could look at your previous comments. You could still remain anonymous, but be held accountable.
Do you think an oligarchy is ok as long as the attorneys are the elite group?
Bill Placke's proposal does not suggest direct election of judges. It is more like the federal plan. Do you have a problem with the federal plan?
If you haven’t reviewed Mr. Placke’s proposal, here’s a link.
http://mopns.com/2007/11/06/st-louis-attorney-offers-new-missouri-plan/
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