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It’s not true, though.
I know it’s not because of my own experience. In 1982, I managed the campaign for an initiated amendment to the Nebraska Constitution that outlawed non-family corporate farming in the state.
Giant insurance companies had just bought 30,000 acres of environmentally-sensitive land—and then slapped on center-pivot irrigation systems—and while a lot of people were upset, no one did anything about it.
However, I was working for the tiny Nebraska Farmers Union, and we decided to do something about it, and we announced an amendment to the Nebraska Constitution that, if passed, would stop non-family farm corporations not only from buying Nebraska farmland, but also from expanding their factory farms.
When it was announced, we were almost laughed out of the state.
Who were we to challenge the might of giant, mega-rich insurance companies like Prudential and Travelers?
Plus, by the time we got it written, we only had 4 months to get 60,000 signatures—and we had no money to hire paid circulators, this would all have to be done with volunteers.
Even we thought we were screwed.
Nebraskans were mad, though, just like everyone in the country is now, and—to my amazement and delight—completed petitions flooded into our office like the “mighty river of justice” described in the Book of Amos, and we qualified for the ballot.
We still had to win the election campaign, of course, and things once again looked bleak when the insurance company consortium announced that they planned to raise and spend $500,000 to beat us. Bleak, especially, since we didn’t have two nickels to rub together, as the saying goes.
But we’d come to far to stop, and we took our case directly to Nebraska, giving speeches, TV debates, radio shows, anyplace that we could gather a few people together.
Every time you turned on your TV or radio, or opened up your mailbox, you were told that we were going to destroy Nebraska agriculture, we were socialists, that we were misguided fools.
In the end, though, more Nebraskans believed us than the giant insurance companies, despite the fact that we were outspent 13-1, and we kicked their butts—beating them 56%-44%.
And proving that if everyday people believe they can win, they CAN win.
Which takes me to the initiatives that TakeItBack.Org is doing, both of which take on the deadly status quo that is slowly strangling our democracy.
We’ve chosen, like Nebraska Farmers Union did years ago, to fight back. If we pass our “Trifecta of Reform”, it will transform South Dakota not only for the present, but for generations to come.
1. a constitutional amendment to do away with gerrymandering by establishing a nonpartisan redistricting commission creating fairer elections
2. a constitutional amendment to do away with divisive party politics by establishing a nonpartisan election and electing candidates based on merit and ideas
3. a statute to hold the elected and the government accountable that reduces the undue influence of ‘big money’ calling all the shots
And we will then take these reforms to other states, believing—as we do—that moving pieces around the chessboard no longer works, we need to CHANGE the chessboard.
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