Fifty years ago, as a civil rights activist, fellow activists and I marched in the face of brutal resistance to establish voting rights for disenfranchised blacks in the South. “One Man One Vote” is the standard of democracy. It remains the standard. There is no such thing as “hybrid” democracy. The democratic process requires all decisions that affect the Paso Robles Water Basin be one-person, one-vote. This district’s hybrid structure, which is touted as a model for all future water districts, is no more democratic than the “three-fifths compromise” Northern and Southern states agreed to during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, which counted slaves as “three-fifths” of a person for purposes of determining representation.
One-person, one-vote for all collective decisions.
Vote “no” on Measures A and B (while your individual vote still counts).
— Clifford A. Vaughs – Templeton
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2016.
