You don’t have to be an anarchist to disparage government.
But you have to wonder sometimes if they have more insight on that subject than some of us.
One of America’s most famous anarchists once said, “If voting changed anything, they’d make
it illegal.”
Our state’s House of Delegates did stop short of making voting illegal last week. But its passage of House Bill 3004 would appear to potentially disenfranchise voters.
What this bill does in short is allow the governor to fill vacancies in elected offices with someone from the same political party as the person leaving, at the time.
The bill, approved 62-34 on a party-line vote, limits the governor’s choices to three people selected by that party’s executive committee.
You’re probably thinking: Isn’t that how it was always done? Yes and no.
In 2014, the following the November election the state Senate was evenly knotted at 17 Dem-ocrats and 17 Republicans.
Then one state senator, a day after the election, who was elected in 2012 as a Democrat, switched to the Republican Party, tilting the majority to the GOP.
In January 2016 he resigned his office, causing a flap again because the ensuing appointment was a member of his latest party, rather than the one he represented when voters elected him.
Not to mention that appointment allowed Republicans to maintain their 18-16 majority.
The state Supreme Court ruled soon afterwards in favor of the Republicans in a 3-1 vote.
On Thursday, the House codified that ruling for legislators and expanded it to include congressional seats, state constitutional offices, county commissions and judicial offices.
Some have decried this bill because it smacks of opportunism and potential corruption.
No one would accuse the state senator who would go on to lobby for the NRA as corrupt.
Yet this move could potentially — with the right reward — shift the political fortunes of one party or another. As to opportunism, that’s already the middle name for many politicians.
As to the merits of this bill, much like the one passed Monday to restructure the House into 100 sin-gle-member districts, we have mixed opinions.
However, judging by rushing to prioritize politics over the opioid epidemic, job creation and the budget, we’re starting to wonder.
When lawmakers become more concerned with the political left or right, than right and wrong, that’s not governing. It’s electioneering.
