Item: Democracy Does Not Exist in Arkansas

Of the 11 states where organizers have submitted petitions to qualify ballot measures aimed at protecting or expanding abortion rights this year, Arkansas' is the only effort that has so far been officially rejected.

(Nebraska's measure is pending.) Erik Loomis posted a blog post reporting on the Arkansas Supreme Court upholding a decision to block a proposed amendment to extend abortion access.

The court ruled 4-3 that the secretary of state reasonably blocked it for not following the rules. Loomis notes he has a "correspondent" who says the "rules" are Calvinball in nature. The closely split opinion does suggest the reasoning is iffy.  

Arkansas has very restrictive abortion laws. The backers receive some pushback for choosing a twenty-week ban:

The Arkansas ballot proposal lacked support from national abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood because it would still have allowed abortion to be banned 20 weeks into pregnancy. 

They also showed some bravery:

It faced heavy opposition from abortion opponents in the state. One of the groups, the Family Council Action Committee, published the names of people gathering signatures for the abortion measure and had vowed to challenge the proposed constitutional amendment in court if it made the ballot.

One blog comment noted the voters have agency. The person criticized the headline since the voters chose anti-choice people in statewide elections. Is this not "democracy" in action?  

Two things. First, the state allows a form of direct democracy. If the process was improperly blocked, a case can be made that "democracy does not exist."

Second, in a different sense, democracy is not just about voting for governors and other representatives. It does not only include direct democracy options such as ballot measures and recall efforts. 

Democracy involves basic freedoms such as those found in the First Amendment. These are necessary for a functioning democracy. Civil rights and liberties are part of democracy, including abortion rights. 

I do not think democracy does not exist at all in Arkansas. Nonetheless, it is severely lacking. "Thanks" Donald Trump and the Republican Party. 

It is appreciated that most states where the people want a referendum on abortion rights -- including Florida (60% requirement) -- will have one. We should not have to rely on such measures. 

We should never accept Dobbs as something to take for granted. It continues to be an unjust ruling that was handled in a corrupt way. The people have struck back but we still have a ways to go democracy-wise. 

ETA: I do think the ruling is suspicious and a conservative state's supreme court split 4-3 helps confirm that. Not knowing the intricacies of state ballot law, however, I will leave a bit of doubt on bare state law grounds as compared to the shitty nature of the overall policy choices.