Considering the election is only a couple of weeks aways, I've seemed to avoid politics long enough. I'm not about to get on my soapbox and go on about who you should or shouldn't vote for. Instead, my focus is slightly more local; actually, it's a state concern.
There are eight propositions that will be on the ballot. Please read and understand them. They were amazingly hard for me to track down, so here is the link:
Two, in particular, I feel need to be addressed. I'm not sure how, or by whom, the propositions are named, but Propositions 105 & 200 are extremely misleading...dare I say intentionally misleading, with their titles.
105
Prop. 105's official title is: Majority Rule - Let The People Decide Act
Now at first glance, you might think, "Great! 'Let the people decide'. What's wrong with that?" Well, if you dig deeper, you will find this:
"Proposition 105 would amend the Arizona Constitution to provide that an initiative measure that establishes, imposes or raises a tax, a fee or other revenue or mandates a spending obligation on a private person, a labor organization, other private legal entity or this state shall not become law unless the initiative measure is approved at the election by a majority of qualified electors registered to vote in the state."
In Layman's terms, that means that any new measure brought to the voters that involves changing taxes, fees, or basically anything to do with money, would have to have the majority vote of ALL registered voters, not just the majority of the people who decided to vote!
This proposal is essentially anti-democracy. It would take the power out of the voting citizens hands, and give it to the lazy non-voters. If you are registered to vote, and don't, that's your problem! Also, if this were to pass, nearly everything involving money would be stuck where it is! I hope you like how money is being spent in your area, because with a system like this you would never get the majority of ALL registered voters to approve or change anything. Smaller local issues sometimes have less than half of all registered voters even vote. Even if they ALL voted "Yes", it wouldn't matter because you would still not have a majority vote.
I don't care what party you support, this cannot become law. The Constitution was not written with this in mind. "We The People" must not only decide to register to vote, but decide by actually voting.
200
Prop. 200's official title is: Payday Loan Reform Act
Now this one I suppose is more opinionated, but I find it equally ridiculous as Prop. 105. With that being said, I am extremely anti all of the "Payday Loan" stores you find on almost every corner here in AZ. They charge outrageous fees and interest rates, take advantage of the financially illiterate, and promote foolish spending and budget habits; all of which makes the owners of these stores richer.
Consider this...Federal legislation prohibits payday lending to members of the military. Hello!?! If the Federal government, of all people, thinks it's financially irresponsible for it's military personnel to take out these payday loans, then I'm sure this can't be the smartest thing to do with your money.
If you want more reasons/info as to why I am so opposed to these Payday loans, look here:
Anyways...
When you start to read Prop. 200, you are bombarded with a list of changes, that honestly, sound like a good thing. Again, you might think (like I did), "Great! Those payday loan places rip people off with what equals out to be almost a 400% yearly interest rate. Let's stop this and 'reform' them." So why am I against all of these changes you might ask? Once again, if you dig deeper, you will find this:
"The deferred presentment licensing program in the current law is set to terminate on July 1, 2010. Proposition 200 would continue to allow deferred presentment services indefinitely because it would repeal the program's termination date."
The original legislation only authorized these types of business to be in place until July 1, 2010. As of now, on that day the "probation" period for these types of businesses will end. The legislator will then have to review these businesses and either renew the legislation, change it, or put an end to it. If Prop. 200 passes it will override this "probation" period and permanently allow these businesses to be in our state.
I don't understand how these places are legal to begin with. It's legalized extortion, in my opinion. Not to mention it hits hardest the people that are already financially strapped to begin with! Payday loans only make things worse. They do not help people learn what is a proper way to handle their personal finances. And we wonder why and how we got ourselves into this mess that we call the "housing crisis"? Predatory lending practices just like this.
The moral of the story is this:
Please read and understand the proposals on the ballot. And for the sake of us all, do not "judge a book by its cover". Or in this case, a proposal by it's name.
