"Written By Californians?"
So what?? Judicial Accountability to the People
is needed in every state nationwide!
The No-On-E Club argues, "It was written by Californians who failed to get it on the ballot in their state..."
I have heard so much made of Amendment E being written by Californians, that I thought I should address this supposed grave "concern" by the No-On-E Club once and for all.
I, Ron Branson, the author of J.A.I.L., was born and raised but only a few hundred miles south of South Dakota in the State of Missouri. My father was born in Missouri, and my mother in Illinois. On the farms of Missouri I used an outhouse for a bathroom, wiped on Sears & Roebucks catalogs or newsprint, carried water from the spring, used a Coleman lantern for light, tilled the ground with a rototiller, planted corn upon the fields, etc. I know what it is to dig an outhouse as I have had to do it. We called the ears of corn at meal time "roast-n-ears." Many reading this are not familiar with this farm term. My family members and siblings are from Missouri, and many, if not most, still live there today.
I fail to see how my upbringing is so far afield from that of the farms of South Dakota. And unless you are a full-fledged American Indian, your ancestors probably came here from Europe, or some other nation, just as mine did.
I was called out of Missouri by a ministry located in Texas who sent me to California. I knew absolutely nothing at all about California, but that is where God called me to minister. Was I wrong in following the voice of God in this endeavor? It seems that supposedly I have somehow transgressed against God because I now minister in California where God sent me.
Even if I am somehow now to be classified as a "Californian," I fail to see the enormous issue that is being made of this by the No-On-E Club. My response is, "So what??? Let's get to the issue of judicial accountability and not be distracted by triviality!"
If I had launched Amendment E from my home state, would this satisfy them? I really doubt it. I believe they just want to have something on which to take issue with me. There is a saying, "When you can't deal with the issues, attack the messenger." For their purposes, I am supposed to be this dirty, nasty Californian that is seeking to "Californianize" South Dakota. What hypocrites!
Here they are drawing huge aid and financial support from the nation's insurance capitol headquartered in Washington, D.C. Do we hear the No-On-E Club complaining that South Dakota is being influenced and taken over by Washington, D.C.? Of course not! And how about the Exxon and Mobil Oil Corporation's money that is flowing into South Dakota to defeat Amendment E? What complaints are we hearing from them about this? Nothing!
There is nothing more grassroots [of the People] than is Amendment E. Yet the No-On-E Club would have you believe, somehow, that they are grassroots South Dakotans. Again, I say, "What hypocrites!"
They argue we failed to get it on the ballot in California. So what? Almost every project attempted in this nation's history failed in its infancy. Do they think that NASA landed on the moon with their first launch? Do they think that Mount Rushmore was completed without a setback? Indeed, a large chunk fell off which defaced the original work. They were forced back to the drawing board for serious revisions. So how is it they make such a big issue that it "failed" to get on the ballot in its infancy? Oh, by the way, Amendment E was gotten on the South Dakota ballot BY A SOUTH DAKOTAN!
Oh, ye hypocrites! How shall ye escape the damnation of hell?