Washblog

And this would be good for several strategic reasons, over and above the substantive issue -- the need to drive those bloodsucking vampires out of our state:

There are several bills before the Legislature that would restrict paid initiative signature gatherers. This is a direct attack on the Tim Eymans and Howard Richs of the world, and it is a good thing. The right wing bloggers, predictably, are calling it an attack on the initiative process. It's no such thing, of course, but rather an attempt to remedy the worst abuses of the system.

An initiative to restrain payday lenders, if successful, would put the lie to the whole right-wing propaganda effort and would prove that there are viable populist alternatives to intransigent legislators.

Such an initiative also would provide a mobilizing focus and a recruitment tool for Democrats in areas where people use payday lenders.

I personally will go to Rep. Kirby's legislative disstrict, which I am quite familiar with, to gather signatures for such an initiative, and I expect to have a lot of company. If we stand right outside payday lenders' doors while we collect them, I think we might bring ourselves a lot of attention and a lot of support.

There's no point in bashing Kirby, or Margarita Prentice. We'll need their help for other things, and they'll need ours, and their records are pretty damn good in many other areas. What's more, they are both darn near invulnerable to an electoral challenge, so why waste the time?  We'll just have to agree to disagree, and move forward.

This is what comes of having a "big tent" party, and we need to get down to some serious work and not just wave our arms about.

If perception is reality, then the world must be flat and the sun must revolve around it.

by ivan on Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 11:34:14 AM PST

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