Getting it good and hard

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard."

So wrote H.L. Mencken in one of his many memorable takes on the American scene, and the backers of the "Orange" and "White" charter amendment petitions must have taken his words to heart. There are some good ideas contained within the bundled amendments, but the very act of "bundling" reflects -- at least -- arrogance on the part of the initiatives' proponents. If each proposed amendment is as worthy of consideration on its own merits as its backers claim, it should appear as one item on the November ballot, and damn the cost of collecting signatures. The effort to cram all the amendments as a group down voters' throats belies the very democratic principles Knox Charter Petition claims to embrace.     

As you ponder the bundled amendments inside the voting booth this November, keep in mind another Mencken pearl:

"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it."