This isn’t a sexy topic like stopping forced wage mandates. And it is not, to paraphrase Judge Napolitano, about how the right to bear arms is not a gift from the government that they can take away. But this veto needs to be sustained too!
Related: Gov. Sununu Vetoes NH Democrat’s Arbitrary Job-Killing Wage Mandate
And it is innocuous enough that it could be overridden without your attention and action.
New Hampshire House Bill 706 is an abrogation of responsibility. Bipartisan forces among your elected representatives tried to hand off redistricting to an unelected committee. Down in DC, we see this a lot. It starts with “The Secretary Shall.” And everything that follows is “you decide; I’m too busy to be bothered.”
Our own Norm Silber, notes that,
These commissions only exist in a small minority of states, and contravene the clear constitutional mandate that redistricting is a legislative function, inherently political, that cannot and should not be delegated away to some unelected body.
We agree, as does Governor Sununu,
The New Hampshire Constitution directs the legislature to determine legislative and Executive Council districts. The drafters of our Constitution were wise to vest such authority in the people’s elected representatives who are accountable to the voters every two years. The members of the commission proposed by House Bill 706 would be unelected and unaccountable to the voters. Legislators should not abrogate their responsibility to the voters and delegate authority to an unelected and unaccountable commission selected by political party bosses.
This effort to undermine accountability is, as Norm notes, deliberate.
The prime sponsor of the bill (and similar ones across the country) is the Brennan Center of New York University, which uses its academic affiliation to clothe its hard-left ideology.
The”Republicans” on the bi-partisan side of this travesty need know that the Brennan Center supports the belief that the Constitution is a living document, not the anvil upon which the will of legislators and transient majorities of elected “temps” shall be broken.
Brennan is working with your legislative leaders to ensure that any right to life, liberty, happiness, free speech, religious conscience, and yes, the right to self-defense, is a gift from government.
You are advised to suggest otherwise and if they refuse to listen, replace them in office at the earliest electoral opportunity.
They are not there to represent you; they are there to represent the power of the state over you, even if they don’t realize it.
Do your best impression of Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. Tell them to do their job. And that does not mean handing off responsibility to panels or committees who have no accountability to you, the voter and taxpayer.
Thanks to Norm Silber Contributed to this article.