 The following is an excerpt from J. Neil Schulman's book 
 SELF CONTROL Not Gun Control, to be published Nov. 30,
 1995 by Synapse--Centurion.  Reproduction in computer file
 and message bases is permitted for informational purposes
 only. Copyright (c) 1995 by J. Neil Schulman.  All other
 rights reserved.


                  THE CITIZEN'S LINE ITEM VETO
                           PROPOSITION



INTRODUCTION, 1995


          When in 1990 I wrote this essay, proposing a
     California initiative, I was not a registered voter.
     In fact, I had not voted for two decades, not out of
     apathy, but out of the belief that the use of political
     power always harmed innocent victims, and therefore
     any participation in the electoral process was immoral.

          What changed my mind and got me to register to
     vote, in August, 1991, was buying my first gun.

          It did not come to me in any sort of blinding
     flash of insight.  It just dawned on me that since I
     was willing "in the gravest extreme" to use the
     lethal power of a firearm to defend myself from physical
     attacks, why shouldn't I likewise be willing to wield
     political power to defend myself from political attacks?
     The "purist" libertarian position that all use of
     political power was invasive finally seemed to me wrong.

          Depending on how I used my ballot, couldn't I vote
     defensively also?

          It may strike someone who takes voting for granted
     as a silly argument I was having with myself.  I
     disagree.  There's no question that the existence of
     government, even in its mildest form, creates innocent
     victims.  The question, then, of whether voting is
     a moral or immoral act is entirely dependent on the
     choices being offered.  If Adolf Hitler--murderer of
     twelve million--were in an election against Joseph
     Stalin--murderer of over twenty million--would it
     be moral for me to vote for Hitler because he was less
     efficient at murder?  Eight million fewer victims would
     be the "lesser of evils," no?

          When I registered to vote in 1991, I knew that
     if I couldn't find candidates I wanted to vote for, I
     could at least vote on ballot propositions, whereby my
     vote would directly decide political questions which
     affected my rights and those of others.  So it was, in
     fact, the logic of the following essay that finally
     convinced me to become a registered voter.

          Presented herewith, then, is a proposal to make
     voting by the citizen even more powerful.

          For historical purposes, I am including my
     original introduction.
                                                      --JNS
                               ***

INTRODUCTION, 1990


     "If voting could change anything, it would be illegal."
   --Karl Hess

     "If a law is disliked by as many as one-third is it
     not likely that you would be better off without it?"
   --The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,
     Robert A. Heinlein

      Here's a proposition that, if passed, would convince me
to abandon two decades of abstinence from the political process,
register to vote, and vote early and often--too often, I think,
for this proposition to stand any chance of being enacted, for it
would actually place real power in the hands of the average voter
in a way that the established Powers That Be would not permit.

     You are free to try proving me wrong by attempting to get
it passed: I assure you it will not be enacted into law without
being watered down so much as to be meaningless. But I offer it
as an exercise for the politically active, to demonstrate to them
the contempt in which the electorate is held by elected and
appointed officials, and how any real attempt to enfranchise
power in the hands of the people will be resisted tooth and nail.

     California has in place a method of amending the state
constitution through voters' initiatives called propositions.
Very well--California is as good a place as any to test any wacky
new idea. If successful here, it will be imitated in other
states, and perhaps even federally. Therefore, herewith proposed
to be placed before the voters of the State of California is


     THE CITIZEN'S LINE ITEM VETO
       PROPOSITION

     Summary: The State of California shall establish a
statewide voicemail telephone system whereby voters may exercise
a line-item veto over all legislation signed by the governor. A
one-third vote in favor of vetoing a line item shall prevent it
from becoming law, with no override available.

     The proposition:

     Within one year of the passage of this proposition:

     I. A. The State of California shall register any
California voter who wishes to enroll for Citizen's Line Item
Veto participation. Such enrollment shall identify these voters
in a manner not invasive to their personal privacy, but with a
level of security equivalent to that used by the commercial
banking industry for telephone banking transactions.

     B. The State of California shall establish a state-wide
voice-mail telephone system, operated by touch-tone telephones
using an (800) area code telephone number or other free-to-caller
area code. All California voters enrolled for Citizen's Line Item
Veto participation shall be entitled to vote on this system.

     C. Each line item in all legislation signed by the
governor the previous week shall be placed before the enrolled
voters on this voice mail system. Each voter on the system shall
be given one vote per line item of legislation signed by the
governor, YES or NO.

     D. A count shall be made each week of all votes on each
line item. If a line item gains one-third or more NO votes, it
shall fail to have been passed into law, and no appeal to any
legislative, executive, or judicial authority may override this
veto.

     II. The State of California shall provide a weekly line-
item summary of all legislation which has been signed into law by
the governor the previous week. Such summary shall be in a form
understandable to any resident of the State of California with a
high school diploma issued by a California public school, and
shall be made publicly available.

     III. To compensate voters in the Line Item Veto for the
time and effort of reading the legislation and registering their
vote, all voters enrolled in the Line Item Veto who vote on the
system at least eight times per year shall be exempt at point of
sale on all purchases from the California Sales Tax for the next
year.

     IV. No line item vetoed by the voters of the Line Item
Veto may be reintroduced into legislation for a period of three
years.

     V. No tax or other method of public funding, including
all usage fees, shall pass into effect without being subject to
the Citizen's Line Item Veto, nor shall any tax or other method
of funding, including all usage fees, remain in effect two years
from the passage of this proposition unless it is placed before
the enrolled voters of the Citizen's Line Item Veto.

                                ***


                         THE NEW BOOK
                    from J. Neil Schulman!

                           Author of 
        STOPPING POWER: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns


                 SELF CONTROL Not Gun Control


   "Schulman interestingly and insightfully raises a number of
  liberty-related issues that we ignore at the nation's peril.
   His ideas are precisely those that helped make our country
  the destination of those seeking liberty.  The book's title
 says it all: personal responsibility, not laws and prohibitions,
                is the mark of a civil society."
     Professor Walter E. Williams, Chairman
     Department of Economics
     George Mason University
     Fairfax, Virginia


Publisher: Synapse--Centurion
Price: $24.95 U.S.; $32.95 Canada
Publication Date: November 30, 1995
Approx. Shipping Date: Oct. 15, 1995
ISBN: 1-882639-05-7
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 95-74682

Full info is on J. Neil Schulman's World Wide Web Page at:  
http://www.pinsight.com/~zeus/jneil/ or download the file
SELFCONT.ZIP from GunTalk.

                     *** ORDER INFO ***

Synapse--Centurion Books is now accepting pre-printing wholesale 
orders for whole cases of SELF CONTROL Not Gun Control at 60% 
off cover price -- $10 per book and 24 books per case -- IF 
THE ORDER WITH FULL PAYMENT IS RECEIVED ON OR BEFORE 
SEPTEMBER 20TH, 1995.  

To mail-order SELF CONTROL Not Gun Control, send a check or money 
order for $240 per case plus $25 shipping & handling per case to:

Synapse--Centurion
225 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 1204
Santa Monica, CA  90401

Orders will be shipped by UPS ground unless a P.O. Box is given,
in which event they will be shipped parcel post.  California 
booksellers include your California reseller's number with
your order; otherwise, California residents include California 
sales tax of $19.80 per case.

Telephone credit card orders  -- Visa, MasterCard, Discover/Novus,
or American Express -- may be recorded on our hotline at 
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If ordering by phone, please state clearly:

1) The cardholder's name; 
2) The cardholder's daytime telephone number;
3) The credit card number and expiration date;
4) The seller's California reseller's number
       (If a California reseller's number is not 
       included, $19.80 per case in sales tax will 
       be added to orders shipped to California 
       addresses.);
5) The number of 24-book cases to be ordered 
       (at $240 per case plus $25 s&h per case);
6) The address to ship the books
       (If a post office box is given, the books will
       be shipped parcel post instead of UPS.).

Again, to be given this pre-printing price, orders will full 
payment must be received by September 20, 1995.  Books will be 
shipped approximately October 15, 1995.

 
     Reply to:
  J. Neil Schulman
  Mail:                 P.O. Box 94, Long Beach, CA 90801-0094
  Voice Mail:           (500) 44-JNEIL
  Fax:                  1-500-445-6345
  Internet:             jneil@genie.com
  World Wide Web Page:  http://www.pinsight.com/~zeus/jneil/ 

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