Repeal the double-majority law

If you're not familiar with it, the double-majority law says that if a government entity is seeking approval for a taxing measure, it must get at least a 50 percent voter turnout in that election along with the a majority of the votes.

And, voters have approved the double-majority rule twice. It was initially OK'd in 1996 by 62,000 votes (4.5 percent), which placed the law in the state Constitution so it could not be monkeyed with by the legislature. In 1998, the legislature asked voters to repeal the '96 law, but it was approved again by 16,000 votes (2.6 percent).

But now that Democrats are in charge of the Oregon legislature, they have pushed through a measure that would again request voters to repeal the law. Because of those two affirmative votes, I side with Republicans who protest that this is a slap in the face of voters. But really, Republicans are just as guilty of this (see Ballot Measure 51, asking for a repeal of physician-assisted suicide). I also buy the argument put forth by House Majority Leader Dave Hunt that "a majority of voters should have the right to decide the outcome of elections."

Overall, I think the Republicans are skating on thin ice on this issue. The double-majority law is a gimmick, one that indicates desperation and an unwillingness to debate the issue of taxes on its merits. If Democrats came up with such a gimmick -- such as the Senate filibuster -- the GOP would rightly denounce it for its anti-democratic basis. The fact that voters narrowly approved the law a decade ago does not change its gimmicky, anti-democratic nature.

I suppose you could argue that if governments can't convince half of all voters to participate, they don't deserve approval on taxation requests. But that's not how our democracy works. People are voted into office and measures approved or denied based on the votes of those who care enough to participate. We don't call for a recount if a county commissioner gets into office with 15 percent of the vote. We may call it pathetic, but we also call him "commissioner."

If the GOP can't convince a majority of voters to turn back taxation requests based on the merits of their arguments -- whether that majority be 52 percent of eligible voters or 2 percent -- they have no business relying on gimmicks to outweigh the people who are willing to show their desires on the ballot.