Word: reforms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1960
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Opposition to constitutional reform itself comes from those who because of political interest and sentimental conservatism will obstruct any attempt to disturb the status quo. The Governor's Council and County officials quite correctly see their positions threatened, and many in the 280-large General Court (the third largest legislature in the nation) fear that any reform movement would cut its size. Since two consecutive legislatures must pass constitutional amendments, action in that body is unlikely. An amendment legalizing the graduated income tax got past the last session, but next time reluctance to have new taxation and inertial resistance...
Considering this natural resistance, constitutional reform is gathering surprisingly broad support both on Beacon Hill and among the electorate. But while politicians praise revision on the stump, its proponents disagree strongly how to accomplish it: through the General Court or a Constitutional Convention...
Some conscientious supporters of reform fear that a popularly elected convention would run amuck over the Declaration of Rights and perhaps abolish the protection against self-incrimination. Backers of a convention answer that this suspicion of the electorate is inconsistent with democratic government; but they add that even if the convention ran wild, people would have a year to cool off and refuse to ratify bad suggestions in the referendum. As a further protection, the bill to put the convention to a referendum bars the body from discussing the Declaration of Rights, but the courts have not yet said that...
...Globe (for) and the Herald (against) are continually fighting it out, and the Legislature sees the demand for a convention as Executive intrusion upon its authority. Many outside the government, such as the Herald, claim that the General Court is the proper and most responsible body to make reforms. Still, the 13 amendments passed by the General Court since 1919 have been piecemeal revision, and the major ones that have gotten by one session, for instance the 4-year gubernatorial term, have perished the following year. Political interest and inertia make the Legislature a dubious source of initiative for reform...
Thus the old electoral system, which has the great advantage of being an established ritual, is the best, and it is clearly in the interests of liberals to retain it. Leading the Senate fight against an electoral reform proposal in '56, Kennedy produced an apt quote for liberals to ponder: "When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change...