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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. OCTOBER 7 2010
Why can’t ballot language
be clearer?
This week’s quotable quote --
"Everybody gets so much information all day long
that they lose their common sense."
- Gertrude Stein
Who dares go into the voting booth without
researching the five constitutional amend
ments and one statewide referendum on this
November’s General Election ballot?
Do it and the result will likely be one of two
things: you will either skip many of the ques
tions because you have no idea what they are
talking about, or you’ll play Russian roulette,
choosing to vote while still unclear on what
you’re nixing or approving.
Take Georgia Constitutional Amendment 5
(HR136) for example. It asks voters, “Shall
the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as
to allow the owners of real property located in
an industrial area to remove the
property from the industrial
area?”
Clear as mud, right? Voters
who don’t do the research will
have no idea this amendment
applies to just two counties in
Georgia or that it involves re
pealing a local constitutional
amendment created in the
1950s.
In our Know Before You Go
section last week (still avail
able at pickensprogress.com),
we briefly expounded on each
of the six questions and spent 99 words plainly
explaining amendment 5, because it took that
many. It is inexcusable for lawmakers to use
vague, legalistic, convoluted language that
does more to confuse than inform. Why, we
ask, can’t ballot questions be clearly written
and clearly explained in short paragraphs di
rectly on the ballot?
Do a quick Google search on ballot lan
guage, and you’ll find story after story about
lawsuits, complaints and warnings regarding
ballot questions voters find not only confus
ing, but deceptive.
The Florida Supreme Court, for example,
recently took three constitutional amendments
off the ballot there, ruling the amendment
questions were too misleading.
A Florida group, calling itself The Clear
Fanguage Institute, was created in 2009 in an
effort to make “all amendments, referenda or
other propositions that Americans vote on...
written in simple, clear language that is easily
understood by voters.” The group formed in
reaction to 2008 Florida ballot language mem
bers found “completely incomprehensible.”
We are by no means encouraging voters to
avoid doing research, waiting instead for an
explanation in the booth. No indeed. The ideal
we desire is for voters to enter the polls in
formed.
But a study on ballot language by Dr.
Shauna Reilly of Northern Kentucky Univer
sity’s Political Science Department found that
the more confusing the ballot wording, the
more likely voters are to skip the question. The
finding implies that many vot
ers enter the booth uninformed
about these special questions.
The study also found, not sur
prisingly, that voters are more
likely to read a longer ballot if
it is written in language they
can understand.
Reilly’s work raises a ques
tion about ballot language and
its effect on democracy. She
touches on that in her study re
port, and we think she’s right.
Confusing ballot questions
elbow out certain voters: voters
who may be less educated; voters who are
young or who have limited proficiency in the
English language; and voters who have learn
ing or cognitive disabilities.
In its defense, the Georgia Constitution
does mandate that a summary of each proposal
(constitutional amendments or referendums)
be written by the Attorney General and pub
lished in each Georgia county’s legal organ
once a week for the three weeks preceding the
election when these questions are posed.
That’s good, but it isn’t enough if you still
can’t understand the ballot after reading a
legal advertisement.
Fawmakers should make voting as easy and
painless as possible. As it stands now, they
don’t. They maintain, and at times take advan
tage of, a system that undermines fair voting.
So voters be warned, until there is more ballot
language oversight, you’ll need to stay on
your toes in the booth and to go prepared.
Voters who
don V research
will be lost in
the vague ballot
language this
November:
Agree or Disagree? Tell us your thoughts on this week’s editorial either online at
the message board on the Progress Online (www.pickensprogress.com) or with a letter to the
editor that will be published next week. Letters may be e-mailed to news@pickensprogress.com.
All letters must have a valid e-mail address, full name and a telephone number for verification.
Phone numbers are not published. Letters may also be sent regular mail to Pickens Progress
- P.O. Box 67 - Jasper, GA 30143. All names are published. The Deadline for letters is each
Monday at noon.
The Essential Bad Attitude
By Alan Gibson
The question it’s better not to ask
When someone asks me, by the presumption of it.
“How are you?” I’m taken aback It’s a deeply probative ques-
CORRECTION WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS - This
picture was published in the September 16th edition with a story
about Jasper Police Chief Harold Cantrell retiring. It shows a 15
year old Cantrell in the car. He is flanked by Nelson Police Chief
Pat Raye (whose name we had to correct in last week’s edition)
and Nelson Mayor Floyd Ritchie on the right. Last week we had
identified this person as Nelson Mayor Frank Willis, who was a
one time mayor of Nelson, but not the one pictured. Hopefully
we do have Cantrell correctly identified
tion that only analysts have the
right to ask at first meeting. I
don’t propose to tell some casual
acquaintance how, at core, I am.
As rote colloquy, “How’re
you?” - “Fine, how’re you?” -
“Fine”, aside from being termi
nally circumloquacious, estab
lishes nothing.
Nobody finds out anything of
consequence about how the
other is. Before we speak of
essence, may we not lay ground
work? Establish an ease, have
meals together and drinks. Then,
just possibly, one of us might
lean over to the other and quietly
ask, “How are you?”
The next time someone says,
“How’re you” with typical flip
audacity, I’ll answer, “Perfectly
normal, and how dare you imply
otherwise.”
It’s not that I mind self-dis
closure at the appropriate junc
ture in a relationship. But in the
name of human dignity let us not
violate ourselves by demanding
it instantaneously by way of in
troduction. To do so demeans us
all.
[ Gibson hosts Pickens
County’s Friday Morning Dis
cussion Group. All attitudes are
welcome. For info: 770-893-
2578.]
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main St. P.O. Box 67 Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457 FAX (706) 253-9738
www.pickensprogress.com
JOHN R. POOL DAN POOL
Publisher Editor
WILLIAM E. POOL
Managing Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia.
Entered at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia 30143 as Mail Matter
of Second Class. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE
PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS, P. O. Box 67, Jasper, GA
30143.
One Year’s Subscription: $21.40 in Pickens County and in Gilmer,
Cherokee, Dawson and Gordon Counties. $28.89 in all other
Georgia counties; $34.24 out of state.
Forward Pickens
meeting
The sole commissioner advo
cacy group. Forward Pickens,
will hold an informational meet
ing Oct. 7th at 6:30 p.m. in Bent
Tree for residents there and two
informational meetings next
week. They will be Oct. 12th, 7
p.m. at the Chamber of Com
merce and Oct. 13th, 7 p.m. at
the Jerusalem Community Cen
ter.
For more information, contact
Clayton Preble at
chpreble@gmail.com.
Have you spotted an
error in our pages?
Let our staff hear
about it.
706-253-2457 or
dpool@pickensprogress.com
U I was going to look for a job,
but finding a needle in here seemed easier!"
Less self-esteem, more reality
for children, says expert
By John Rosemond
The notion that adults should do
all they possibly can to advance
the self-esteem of children is
dying a slow but hopefully un
avoidable death. Research done
by a number of objective folks,
most notably Roy Baumeister at
Florida State University, has
clearly shown that high self-es
teem is closely associated with
anti-social inclinations.
Unfortunately, it’s taken more
than a decade for the research in
question to bridge the gap be
tween academia and popular cul
ture. At this writing, two
generations of parents were per
suaded to devote themselves to
creating child-rearing environ
ments that were rich in praise
and reward but lacking in reality,
elevating their children to idol
status in the process.
Thankfully, I am a member of
the last generation of American
kids who were not allowed to
possess high self-esteem. My
mother and later her second hus
band did all they could to repress
my Inner Brat, for which I am
most grateful. (I did not, how
ever, appreciate their efforts at
the time.) When I had an out
burst of high self-esteem, one of
them would tell me I was “acting
too big for my britches” and
needed to size myself to the psy
chic garment in question before
they were forced to lend me a lit
eral hand.
Then there were those occa
sions when, without reprimand,
one or the other of them would
say, “It would be good for you to
always remember that no matter
what you accomplish in this
world, you are really just a little
fish in a big pond.” It’s very
helpful for me to remind myself
of this on a regular basis.
Everyone in my generation
heard these very healthy things
from their parents. I estimate that
there are less than ten parents in
America who say these psycho
logically incorrect things today.
Today’s typical parent seems
to think his/her child is the only
fish in the pond worth noticing,
which is really too bad for
his/her child. It’s bad for all of
us, actually, because the research
also finds that the higher a per
son’s self-regard, the lower his
regard for others. (It is also note
worthy that high self-esteem puts
the individual at high risk for
bouts of severe depression.) Peo
ple with high self-esteem want to
be paid attention to and served.
They believe in their entitle
ment. On the other hand, folks
with high regard for others pay
attention to others and look for
opportunities to serve them.
It is unarguable that culhire is
best served, preserved, and ad
vanced by folks who fit into the
latter category. Entitlements
weaken, and a culture-wide enti
tlement mentality weakens the
entire culture.
Along these lines, every sin
gle manager, employer, and su
pervisor with whom I’ve talked
in the last decade or so has told
me that today’s young college
graduates, by and large, are not
looking for work; rather, they are
looking for benefits packages
(i.e. entitlements). They can’t
handle criticism, I’m told. They
are loathe to do more than “the
minimum,” yet they expect pro
motions. The list of high self-es
teem symptoms goes on and on.
This is corrosion. It threatens
America’s future.
Raising a child who possesses
high other-regard simply re
quires that parents do what our
great-grandparents did. They put
their marriages first, not their
kids. They gave their children all
that they truly needed and very
little of what they simply
wanted. They assigned daily
chores from age three on. They
expected their children to always
do their best, in whatever setting.
Their beds were for adults only.
They rarely helped their kids
with their homework.
They did not serve them indi
vidualized dinners. Family came
first, not after-school activities.
And so on. This parenting para
digm is as workable today as it
was when I was a child.
In fact, a small number (but I
sense it is slowly growing) of
parents have made the conscious
decision to create this retro-rev
olution in their families. Surely,
they are salt of the earth.
Family psychologist John
Rosemond answers parents ’
questions at
www. rosemond. com.
“Survive to Thrive”
Sexual Assault Support Group
The North Georgia Mountain Crisis Network, Inc. is offering
a Free Women’s Support Group for survivors of sexual
abuse/sexual assault on the Fourth Monday Evening of
each month.
This Group is facilitated by Kathleen Dunn, LCSW. If inter
ested in attending and for directions, please call
706-492-3836 and, and ask for Sheila for more information.
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