Democracy, every 20 years

I live in Connecticut. Every 20 years our constitution requires the following question on the ballot:

Shall there be a Constitutional Convention to amend or revise the Constitution of the state?

That's it. A simple Yes or No. But it's not so simple. The group leading the charge for Yes wants to bring initiative and referenda to the Land of Steady Habits. The groups opposed say that initiatives and referenda will lead to outside money coming into Connecticut. And to prove it they are bringing in outside money by the bucket load. According to news reports, the "no" folks - as of the end of September - had collected over $800,000... some $300,000 was from the National Education Association. The "yes" folks had raised all of $12,000.

It seems everyone who's afraid of the voters clearing their throats in order to be heard is arrayed against this vote. Take a look at the list of organizations who oppose the question. It runs from the ACLU of Connecticut to the Windsor Democratic town committee. In between there is a slew of unions (including mine) and other groups, including some you've never heard of. "Queers without Borders?" "Liberals Like Christ"? (is that as in "similar to Christ" or as in "we like Ike" like?). The Connecticut Trial Lawyers association is there as well. Just perusing the list would have made me want to vote Yes.

These groups are concerned that initiative and referenda would make Connecticut - one of the bluest of Blue states - a hot bed of conservative nuts. You know, just like California and Massachusetts, two of the 31 other states who have initiative and referenda.So I say vote Yes. Let's have a full up, no kidding Constitutional convention. A convention could be dangerous - anything could find it's way in or out of our current constitution. Scary things like term limits even.