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Should recall elections be more than a last resort?

Should a recall election be more than a last resort

  • Total voters
    6
Anagram

Anagram

DP Veteran
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Jun 10, 2011
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My general belief has always been that recall elections should only be used as a last resort against politicians who are grossly incompetent or corrupt and letting their term expire would do irreparable damage. I've never thought it was wise to start frequently recalling people due simply to them enacting policies we disagree with. It's expensive to hold the elections and the constant fear of being recalled could lead to legislatures being even less productive than they already are. They could be forced to accept the status quo out of fear that any broad changes could lead to one side attempting a recall.

However, in another thread a few posters that I respect disagreed with me. They believe it is a good thing that a few democrats in Colorado are possibly being recalled because of their votes on gun control. So I'm open to changing my mind, but I'd like some more input.
 
Anagram said:
My general belief has always been that recall elections should only be used as a last resort against politicians who are grossly incompetent or corrupt and letting their term expire would do irreparable damage. I've never thought it was wise to start frequently recalling people due simply to them enacting policies we disagree with. It's expensive to hold the elections and the constant fear of being recalled could lead to legislatures being even less productive than they already are. They could be forced to accept the status quo out of fear that any broad changes could lead to one side attempting a recall.

However, in another thread a few posters that I respect disagreed with me. They believe it is a good thing that a few democrats in Colorado are possibly being recalled because of their votes on gun control. So I'm open to changing my mind, but I'd like some more input.
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I think you would have to prove real incompetence and corruption before I would ever really support a recall election.

Consistently doing so would make the system even more ineffective than it already is, lead to anarchy, and really erode the freedoms most of us believe in in general.
 
Anagram said:
My general belief has always been that recall elections should only be used as a last resort against politicians who are grossly incompetent or corrupt and letting their term expire would do irreparable damage. I've never thought it was wise to start frequently recalling people due simply to them enacting policies we disagree with. It's expensive to hold the elections and the constant fear of being recalled could lead to legislatures being even less productive than they already are. They could be forced to accept the status quo out of fear that any broad changes could lead to one side attempting a recall.
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I agree with this completely.


Anagram said:
However, in another thread a few posters that I respect disagreed with me. They believe it is a good thing that a few democrats in Colorado are possibly being recalled because of their votes on gun control. So I'm open to changing my mind, but I'd like some more input.
Click to expand...

I think they are wrong. I am all for gun rights generally to law abiding citizens. Politicians who represent me support things I oppose or oppose things I support on a regular basis. Not once would I have ever voted to recall them. I maybe would have liked to have recalled George W. Bush and still do not know how he got a free pass into re-election with all that was going wrong in Iraq from the beginning, but in the end, democracy is not about getting your way whenever you want. On balance, I think that representative democracy is better than direct democracy to temper the passions of the masses, especially now that technology allows the masses to get whipped up into an emotional frenzy on a scale never imagined when our country was founded. Politics are schizophrenic enough without adding easier recalls to the mix.
 
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