Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/144

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THE WISCONSIN IDEA

people, but the Wisconsin plan precludes the legislature sending anything to the people. The opinion is that the legislature should not be allowed to dodge its responsibility but should be made to state its preference by aye or no. It should not be permitted to confuse the situation by sending one or more competing bills to the people. This clears the decks and makes the issue clean cut. Suppose that a strong bill comes before the legislature and that body passes some weak substitute for it; under this plan the people can do one of two things: they can call for a referendum on this weak plan and kill it or they can call out some other and better bill, with whatever strengthening amendments the petitioners may desire, and pass this bill, thus repealing the first bill by superseding it. In any case the legislature cannot dodge the situation; it must meet its obligations—and the roll call before the public.

After all, it is not unlike the process by which the legislature delegates to committees the power to consider bills and to recommend them. The legislature should be a convenience, a committee of the whole people. If it does not fulfill the will of the whole people for some particular reason, the people should have a right to assert their will. If a committee of the legislature does not do what the legislature desires, it overturns the reports of the committee on the floor of the house, modifies it or does whatever it pleases with it,