Aug. 9th, 2023

canyonwalker: I'm holding a 3-foot-tall giant cheese grater - Let's make America grate again! (politics)
Voters in Ohio went to the polls yesterday in a special election for "Issue 1", a state constitutional amendment to change the process for amending the state constitution. The measure would increase the threshold required to enact constitutional amendments from a simple majority of the popular vote to a 60% supermajority. Preliminary results have the measure losing 57-43.

Why does this matter? The most immediate reason is that it's a proxy fight for abortion rights. Pro-choice supporters have qualified a state constitutional amendment for the November election. Republicans in state government are terrified that it will win in a simple-majority vote. The Republican supermajority wants to ban abortion even though polling shows a clear majority favors keeping it legal. Now they're trying to change the political rules to stop it.

Why am I fingering Republicans on this? Because they're monkeying with the rules of politics. They can't win under the current rules so they're changing the rules. They already used their supermajority control in the state legislature to eliminate special elections— arguing, with some merit IMO, that they're too expensive and generate such low turnout that the results are not fair representations of the voters' will— then created a special special election to try forcing this issue through.

BTW, last year's special election got just 8% turnout. It's clear Ohio Republicans were hoping to sneak through a major change to voting rights with a tiny number of voters. Surprise for them with rules-monkeying on the ballot: this year the special election drew at least 5x the turnout.

Interesting note for policy wonks: Ohio's process for constitutional amendment via ballot proposition is similar in part to California's system of ballot propositions (link to my blog on the topic a year ago). Both date to the same era and for the same reason. In the early 1910s people looked to reform politics to curb the excesses of the Gilded Age, when big-money interests and politicians themselves made state legislation unrepresentative of the will of the majority of the voters. Ballot propositions were a way for voters to work around unresponsive legislatures to push through laws and additional reforms that had broad popular support.

On that topic let me reiterate something I've noted before. Voters voting in favor of protecting abortion rights is not just a thing in left-leaning "blue" states like California where voters are protecting abortion; it's red states, too. Last year 6 red states put abortion restrictions on the ballot and they lost in all 6. Ohio Republicans are similarly out of step with what voters in their own state, including voters in their own party, want. They tried jamming the process to avoid another loss. They lost.
canyonwalker: My other car is a pair of hiking boots (in beauty I walk)
From the point where we crossed the stream on Miller Creek (previous blog) it was another mile to Devil's Slide. Curiously the sweltering afternoon temperatures promised in the day's weather abated for a bit. With that plus a level trail and part shade until the steep bit at the end, the hike was not the misery of sweating we feared it might be.

Devil's Slide is another series of apron falls and cascades over granite. The water is very swift here.



The falls are fenced off from the trail at this point for safety. Staying on the safe side of the fence doesn't give much of a view; there are too many trees in the way. Fortunately...

Fences? We don't need no stinkin' fences! (Jul 2023)

...the fence wasn't that hard to get around. Or over. Or through.

After spending a while at the top we retraced our steps back down the stem of the lollipop to the creek crossing. From there we hiked the east branch of the loop to enjoy seeing the many cascades of Angel Falls from a different vantage. The hot weather that had been briefly MIA reappeared as we labored up the hill from loop junction.

Miller Creek and Bass Lake, Sierra National Forest (Jul 2023)

We didn't really get a great view of the falls from the top of the hill— we were too far away, and there were trees obstructing the view— though we did get an unexpected view of the granite creek bed from high up. And as we about to turn the bend before reaching the vista in the photo above I thought to myself, "Motor boats. Do I hear motor boats?" Yes, it was motor boats! We were closer to Bass Lake than I thought. In the photo above the lake is about a mile away as the crow flies.

Back at the trailhead another bridge across the creek was washed out. Not wanting to deal with getting wet from another crossing right before hopping in the car to drive home, I opted to hike up to the road, following the road across its bridge, then walk back down into the parking lot.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we were ready to leave. The trailhead was much more crowded than when we arrived around 10am. There were 3x as many cars there, including several overflowing into no-parking zones. I'm glad we got an early start, both for parking and for being able to enjoy the trail with fewer people on it. Thank our Saturday Night Halfway!

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