“Ohio voters will get the chance to decide whether to make it harder to pass constitutional amendments just ahead of a possible November vote on an amendment that would enshrine abortion rights in the state.
A resolution asking voters in an August (8th social, early voting opens July 11th) election to raise the threshold for future amendments from a simple majority to 60% cleared the politically fractured Ohio House 62-37 on Wednesday. Five majority Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing it. The policy battle has consumed the state for months.” (May 11, By The Associated Press)
The opposition is calling this proposed change to Ohio’s constitutional amendment process a threat to democracy. But is it really? Our Founding Fathers believed in the idea of a republic, not a democracy. In fact, the majority of the founders believed that democracy was in reality mob rule that would eventually lead to chaos and the loss of individual rights of minorities in the United States. Therefore, they set up a system in the US Senate for passing laws using the filibuster which requires a supermajority.
Also, in the federal constitutional amendment process as stated in Article V of the US Constitution, the requirements are 2/3 of either Congress or state legislatures to call for a constitutional amendment. In addition to that to pass a constitutional amendment requires 3/4 of Congress, state legislatures, or votes by the people in the respective states. Should our state constitutional amendment process require any less?
“The framers of the Constitution also recognized the need for supermajority votes in some cases. In Federalist No. 58, James Madison noted that supermajority votes could serve as a "shield to some particular interests, and another obstacle generally to hasty and partial measures." Alexander Hamilton, too, in Federalist No. 73, highlighted the benefits of requiring a supermajority of each chamber to override a presidential veto. "It establishes a salutary check upon the legislative body," he wrote, "calculated to guard the community against the effects of faction, precipitancy, or of any impulse unfriendly to the public good, which may happen to influence a majority of that body.
As once explained by Founder John Adams, Supermajority votes are intended to prevent allowing a “tyranny of the majority,” and to encourage deliberation and compromise as proponents attempt to gather enough votes to reach a supermajority.”
(Excerpt from “Supermajority Vote in Congress” by Robert Longley on 10/7/21).
Ohio’s state constitutional amendment process remained consistent with the views of these founding fathers until the early 1900s when a Democratic majority in the Ohio House changed these guidelines to open the door for their progressive agenda.
In a recent discussion with my state representative Scott Wiggam, he informed me that this August vote will be a necessary move to protect Ohio from the radical left’s push for a State Constitutional amendment during this year's November election that would make it a constitutional right to an abortion that does not require parental consent for minors, and included in this amendment is also language that allows for minors to receive chemical and surgical sex change therapy without parental consent!
Those of us here, in Ohio that want to protect the rights of our children, both in the womb and out of the womb, must mobilize and be counted at this August election. It is imperative that we reinstate this safeguard to our state constitutional amendment process to protect us from these radical moves by the left to take away our rights and destroy our country!
Early voting is now open in Ohio for this special election, with in-person voting on August 8th.
