Contributed by Ray Southwell
My wife, Faith, and I created three children. As they grew, they occasionally objected to our parental authority. (Especially in their teenage years.) As good parents, we never allowed such behavior. They would fully understand that we are the parents and they are the children. They were pulled back to their natural place, as children, listening to their parents.
We the people of Alaska, created our government. The people are the parents and government is the child. Today, the government in Juneau has stood up and opposed our parental authority.
As the parents, are we strong enough to drag government back under our parental control?
The answer is yes in a non-violent way. (As Faith and I did with our children.)
The Founders gave the people a peaceful way to rein in our child called Government: Article XI of our State Constitution – The Referendum Process.
This past January, a legal opinion was rendered on whether the people could use our parental authority through the referendum process if government taxed our Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). The answer was a resounding yes.
There is a movement afoot to do just that. If our two legislative bodies come together and agree to tax our PFD, we will drive towards placing our child called Government, back in its natural place under the authority of the people.
Understand the complexity of the process. Time to be a good parent, stand up and get involved with controlling our child’s bad behavior through the referendum process.
Be a good parent, get involved.
