Word: voting
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European Democracy I disagree with your article "Postcard: Utrecht" [June 8]. When people refuse to vote it is not necessarily a sign that democracy doesn't work. It is actually the other way round. Most people in Europe are not interested in removing political power from the national parliaments to the European parliament, where they have no influence over the decisions. This attitude actually strengthens democracy. Dennis Brinkeback, STOCKHOLM...
...passage of a slew of state and local menu-labeling laws, on June 10 the Senate reached a bipartisan agreement to include a federal menu-labeling law as part of comprehensive health-care reform. Of course, who knows when that hornet's nest will come up for a vote. But in the meantime, health proponents are likening the Senate provision to legal requirements for a clothing label - i.e., what it's made of. "Isn't information that can help you avoid obesity and diabetes as important as knowing how to wash your blouse?" says Margot Wootan, director of nutrition policy...
...action shows that Iran has crossed a threshold. The nature of the demonstrations has reminded the state that people do, after all, care as much about democratic rights as they do about the economy. Ahmadinejad has done poorly on both counts, but as long as the state respected the vote, Iranians--who fought hard for the revolution that led to the creation of the Islamic Republic--were willing to overlook other shortcomings. Now that trust is gone. "This time they went too far," says Mohsen, a 32-year-old government employee. "We already deposed one of the strongest dictatorships...
...ends early next year (he's limited to one), had hoped to hold an informal, nonbinding plebiscite on Sunday to gauge whether Hondurans want to change their national charter and allow, among other things, more than one term for Presidents. But the Supreme Court last week ruled the Sunday vote illegal; the Congress, where Zelaya loyalists are a minority, and the attorney general rejected it as well. (See pictures of the Honduras coup on LIFE.com...
Jarvis created a similarly impregnable institution. When he rode the wave of anger over skyrocketing property-tax assessments to pass Proposition 13 in 1978, he included a two-thirds vote requirement for the passage of any new taxes in California - an insurmountable obstacle built on populist allergy to any kind of new levy. Beholden to a tax-averse electorate, the state's liberals and moderates have attempted to live with Proposition 13 while continuing to provide the state services Californians expect - freeways, higher education, prisons, assistance to needy families and, very important, essential funding to local government and school districts...