The American Revolution began on June 10th 1772 with the burning HMS Gaspee in Narragansett Bay in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
As reported in a London newspaper and reprinted in the Virginia Gazette (October 15, 1772 -- note they didn't have Twitter back then)
London, July 18
From Rhode Island we received advice that one of his Majesty's ships of war, interrupting the trade of some smugglers in that neighbourhood, the people rose up, and thinking it patriotism to resist the laws of this country, burnt the ship's boats, and carried their commerce in triumph to their own habitations.
The conduct of Rhode Islanders, on the foregoing occasion, it is thought, will be productive of much disturbance in America. If our government resents it with the spirit they ought we shall have fresh exclamations from the sons of liberty beyond the Atlantic; and if they do not, the colonies are immediately discharged from their dependence upon England. The Mother country and the colonies are now come to a kind of crisis, and one or the other must necessarily give way in the dispute. Should the former, however, relax from her just authority, she may as well resign all her dependent territories, and content herself with what is merely contained in her own island.
A year and a half later on December 16th, 1773...,
In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men, some disguised as Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.
This morning I awoke to read and hear that The Kennedy Senate seat in Massachusetts had been captured by a Republican, Scott Brown, a relatively unknown.
Later I went to a breakfast meeting sponsored by the RISC (Rhode Island Statewide Coalition)for Small Business. The agenda was to unveil a strategy for the small business owners in Rhode Island to become a political force equal to their economic presents in the state. Small business represents 97% of the businesses in the state and employs 57% of the state's workers, according to RISC.
Underrepresented in the General Assembly, over-taxed and easily dismissed by the traditional powers that have ruled Rhode Island for close to a century, small business is stirring. RISC, founded in 2003, as a grassroots organization is inviting small business to flex its muscle.
This morning we witnessed a presentation of strategy and the tactical approach for small businesses to become politically active. The crowd of small business owners who attended the meeting are being asked to participate in a program designed to win back the General Assemble over the next 9 months. for the core of Rhode Island producers and employers. In turn, this will set the stage to bring about fundamental change in the state's economic policy. In turn it was suggested that this would set the state back on a course of positive economic growth and development.
Today we are seeing the true beginnings of a revolution in the New England political environment. What happened in Massachusetts will have national ramifications. But what happened this morning in Warwick, RI not far from Gaspee Point, will have immediate impact on the daily lives of Rhode Islanders.
In the coming days and weeks we will be following this revolution on this blog. Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label political structure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political structure. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Friday, April 24, 2009
What do you think about the Governor's Report on the Economic Development Council?
Shakeup sought for economic agency
09:07 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 22, 2009
PROVIDENCE –– A panel reviewing the state’s economic development agency issued a blistering report Tuesday, criticizing its performance as “fragmented, disjointed and without focus.”
http://www.projo.com/news/content/BZ_EDC_REORGANIZATION_04-22-09_UTE41U3_v188.39431fc.html
My take on the subject:
I am a RI native-born who left the area after college and spent 20 years plus living outside the region and working nationally and internationally. When I came back here 20 years later, I realized just how much potential there is here. I am still waiting for the folks who I left behind when I left to see that potential.
EDC was created shortly before I came back.There have been a number of initiatives, plans, reorganizations, leaders, and development philosophies. The comments in the article are, from my perspective, soft compared to what might have been said.
I share the feelings of many natives who have returned to RI after time away, and the newcomers who see the beauty and potential of the Ocean State.
Many want to roll up their sleeves and do something.
Back in the early to mid 1990s, I was part of group -- Vision Rhode Island -- that evolved out a series of public meetings initiated by citizens and professional planners. Our goal was to stir things up and shake the power that be out of their narrow, boxed in short term thinking. We want to promote a We survived for about four years until the energy ran out. We ran into a lot of inertia and passive aggression from the powers that be.
There are some very dedicated people working at EDC but they are handicapped by the lack of leadership and consistency from the top and political interference of an incompetent legislature. All the talk about economic development turns out to be code for short term survival. (My opinion).
There is a definite need for a grass roots effort to bring change and to bring together a coalition of interests that are willing to take the long view and commit to it. Whether that is possible, I am getting to an age where I still hope but expect not in my lifetime.
The very strength of RI -- its strong sense of individualism and minimalism (39 cities and towns in what anywhere else would be an average size county) is also its greatest weakness.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Catching up -- The Separation of Powers
Although the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was formally established and recognized by the British crown in 1663, the year 2008 finally brought Rhode Island into the 19th Century -- politically. Rhode Island declared its independence from England on , May 4, 1776, two months before the other 12 American colonies. As an "independent" territory Rhode Island retained the 1663 Royal Charter as its foundational document.
Rhode Island was the last colony (13th of the original 13 states) to accept statehood when on May 29, 1790 the General Assembly ratified the Constitution. However, the foundational political document for Rhode Island remained the 127 year old colonial charter.
As a result of this "conservative" response to liberal opportunity, the Rhode Island General Assembly has been governing authority in the state for over 340 years. The charter was modified by the first State constitution ratified in 1842. But this did not result in a significant redistribution of political power.
What do I mean by governing authority? I mean that the political powers of legislation, administration and adjudication have essential rested in the State legislature. Supposedly in the hands of the people, this form of democratic tyranny places the full political power of government in the hands of the Speaker of the House and President of the State senate. That is, until 2004, when 78% of Rhode Island voter approved an amendment to the 1841 state constitution, specifically establishing the separation of powers.
It has taken 4 years of public effort to overcome the obstructionist Democrat dominated legislature to final rest the powers assigned to the executive and judicial branches from the legislature. In 2008, a banner year, the judiciary finally had the backbone to rule in its own interest and confirm the principle of separation of powers. Edward Acorn of the Providence Journal describes the importance of this event.
Edward Achorn: A toast to courageous Rhode Island leaders
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
EDWARD ACHORN
RHODE ISLAND ENDURED more than its share of horrible news in 2008, but just before Christmas something wonderful unfolded — a coda to an inspiring story, suggesting that the state can, indeed, move forward, in spite of the powerful forces invested in dragging it down. All it takes is tireless work and courage.
In a landmark ruling that will be remembered, perhaps, as the crowning achievement of Chief Justice Frank Williams, the Supreme Court unanimously stood up for separation of powers, the constitutional amendment passed by nearly 78 percent of the voters in 2004
Separation of powers ends the legacy of 340 years of the overweening dominance of the General Assembly in Rhode Island, an unbalanced system that has contributed mightily to political corruption over the years. The amendment means that here, at long last, as in the other states, the legislature will write the laws, the executive branch will implement and enforce them, and the judicial branch will interpret them.
This is the system America’s Founders enshrined in the federal constitution. They well understood the dangers of despotism and corruption when legislators are permitted to implement the laws they write (or an executive is empowered to dictate the laws).
“The accumulation of all powers . . . in the same hands . . . may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny,” James Madison wrote in No. 47 of the Federalist Papers.
And such an accumulation, to some degree, has afflicted the Ocean State for centuries now, with the results we now see in government dysfunction and resulting economic malaise.
In the four years since voters passed the amendment in a landslide, the General Assembly has worked hard to implement much of it. Legislators had to be removed from boards where they were exercising executive powers, and to shift to their proper role of providing oversight of the executive branch.
But lawmakers could not resist clinging to one glittering jewel: their appointments to the Coastal Resources Management Council. The council is a goldmine for politicians, because significant money and power is involved in coastal development in the Ocean State. So the legislature petitioned the Supreme Court for a ruling about whether it could retain that power, under a section of the constitution that stated “it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide for conservation of the air, land, water.”
The argument was as specious as it gets. The General Assembly could still exercise that “duty” in a legislative role — writing laws — without wielding executive powers unconstitutionally. But no one knew what the Supreme Court might decide.
After all, the court relies on legislators for the funding of its budget every year (and, thus, for patronage and other power), and it is never a good idea to buck the leaders of the General Assembly. And there was the new $88 million Blackstone Valley courthouse the chief justice was seeking. Would politics come before the law?
Politics did not come first. The court, in what must be regarded as a courageous act of devotion to the state constitution and the rule of law, backed the right of citizens to self-government through the ballot box and the amendment process. It ruled that the voters meant exactly what they said they meant about SOP.
Those who write the history of this state will remember that. And they will remember the courageous leaders who worked for years to get the separation of powers amendment onto the ballot — sometimes against their own party bosses, at the risk of losing their jobs and local grants, and seeing their legislation tossed in the trash.
Those men and women of courage included some stalwart fighters: Sheldon Whitehouse, Lincoln Almond, Nicholas Gorham, David Cicilline and Michael Lenihan (among many others). Citizens groups, notably Common Cause under Philip West, led the charge. And, lest we forget, both Governor Carcieri and House Speaker William Murphy contributed to the passage of bipartisan legislation that brought this issue before the voters.
Some powerful figures sneeringly told me the public could never comprehend or care about such a complex constitutional issue, and I was roundly and personally attacked in testimony before the legislature for the crime of writing about SOP. But in the end, people who love this state kept plugging away.
It all goes to show: Rhode Island can heal itself. If it really wanted to, it could remove the straight-ticket ballot, the legacy of corrupt machine politics. It could wrest public schools away from special interests and shift the focus back to students. It could start serving the general interest, and stop honoring felons who betray the public.
What it will take are people who willing to challenge mean-spirited politicians and special interests who are masters of the low blow. Fortunately, there are good people who have the courage to do that. Even if they are maligned now, they should know their character will shine in the light of history. Those who stood in their way are the ones who will end up on the ash heap.
I think the court’s decision, putting an end to this long and exhausting struggle, is cause to open a bottle of a champagne. Here’s to the good citizens who made SOP happen, and to a 2009 when Rhode Island begins to lift itself back on track.
Edward Achorn is The Journal’s deputy editorial-pages editor (eachorn@projo.com).
Rhode Island was the last colony (13th of the original 13 states) to accept statehood when on May 29, 1790 the General Assembly ratified the Constitution. However, the foundational political document for Rhode Island remained the 127 year old colonial charter.
As a result of this "conservative" response to liberal opportunity, the Rhode Island General Assembly has been governing authority in the state for over 340 years. The charter was modified by the first State constitution ratified in 1842. But this did not result in a significant redistribution of political power.
What do I mean by governing authority? I mean that the political powers of legislation, administration and adjudication have essential rested in the State legislature. Supposedly in the hands of the people, this form of democratic tyranny places the full political power of government in the hands of the Speaker of the House and President of the State senate. That is, until 2004, when 78% of Rhode Island voter approved an amendment to the 1841 state constitution, specifically establishing the separation of powers.
It has taken 4 years of public effort to overcome the obstructionist Democrat dominated legislature to final rest the powers assigned to the executive and judicial branches from the legislature. In 2008, a banner year, the judiciary finally had the backbone to rule in its own interest and confirm the principle of separation of powers. Edward Acorn of the Providence Journal describes the importance of this event.
Edward Achorn: A toast to courageous Rhode Island leaders
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
EDWARD ACHORN
RHODE ISLAND ENDURED more than its share of horrible news in 2008, but just before Christmas something wonderful unfolded — a coda to an inspiring story, suggesting that the state can, indeed, move forward, in spite of the powerful forces invested in dragging it down. All it takes is tireless work and courage.
In a landmark ruling that will be remembered, perhaps, as the crowning achievement of Chief Justice Frank Williams, the Supreme Court unanimously stood up for separation of powers, the constitutional amendment passed by nearly 78 percent of the voters in 2004
Separation of powers ends the legacy of 340 years of the overweening dominance of the General Assembly in Rhode Island, an unbalanced system that has contributed mightily to political corruption over the years. The amendment means that here, at long last, as in the other states, the legislature will write the laws, the executive branch will implement and enforce them, and the judicial branch will interpret them.
This is the system America’s Founders enshrined in the federal constitution. They well understood the dangers of despotism and corruption when legislators are permitted to implement the laws they write (or an executive is empowered to dictate the laws).
“The accumulation of all powers . . . in the same hands . . . may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny,” James Madison wrote in No. 47 of the Federalist Papers.
And such an accumulation, to some degree, has afflicted the Ocean State for centuries now, with the results we now see in government dysfunction and resulting economic malaise.
In the four years since voters passed the amendment in a landslide, the General Assembly has worked hard to implement much of it. Legislators had to be removed from boards where they were exercising executive powers, and to shift to their proper role of providing oversight of the executive branch.
But lawmakers could not resist clinging to one glittering jewel: their appointments to the Coastal Resources Management Council. The council is a goldmine for politicians, because significant money and power is involved in coastal development in the Ocean State. So the legislature petitioned the Supreme Court for a ruling about whether it could retain that power, under a section of the constitution that stated “it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide for conservation of the air, land, water.”
The argument was as specious as it gets. The General Assembly could still exercise that “duty” in a legislative role — writing laws — without wielding executive powers unconstitutionally. But no one knew what the Supreme Court might decide.
After all, the court relies on legislators for the funding of its budget every year (and, thus, for patronage and other power), and it is never a good idea to buck the leaders of the General Assembly. And there was the new $88 million Blackstone Valley courthouse the chief justice was seeking. Would politics come before the law?
Politics did not come first. The court, in what must be regarded as a courageous act of devotion to the state constitution and the rule of law, backed the right of citizens to self-government through the ballot box and the amendment process. It ruled that the voters meant exactly what they said they meant about SOP.
Those who write the history of this state will remember that. And they will remember the courageous leaders who worked for years to get the separation of powers amendment onto the ballot — sometimes against their own party bosses, at the risk of losing their jobs and local grants, and seeing their legislation tossed in the trash.
Those men and women of courage included some stalwart fighters: Sheldon Whitehouse, Lincoln Almond, Nicholas Gorham, David Cicilline and Michael Lenihan (among many others). Citizens groups, notably Common Cause under Philip West, led the charge. And, lest we forget, both Governor Carcieri and House Speaker William Murphy contributed to the passage of bipartisan legislation that brought this issue before the voters.
Some powerful figures sneeringly told me the public could never comprehend or care about such a complex constitutional issue, and I was roundly and personally attacked in testimony before the legislature for the crime of writing about SOP. But in the end, people who love this state kept plugging away.
It all goes to show: Rhode Island can heal itself. If it really wanted to, it could remove the straight-ticket ballot, the legacy of corrupt machine politics. It could wrest public schools away from special interests and shift the focus back to students. It could start serving the general interest, and stop honoring felons who betray the public.
What it will take are people who willing to challenge mean-spirited politicians and special interests who are masters of the low blow. Fortunately, there are good people who have the courage to do that. Even if they are maligned now, they should know their character will shine in the light of history. Those who stood in their way are the ones who will end up on the ash heap.
I think the court’s decision, putting an end to this long and exhausting struggle, is cause to open a bottle of a champagne. Here’s to the good citizens who made SOP happen, and to a 2009 when Rhode Island begins to lift itself back on track.
Edward Achorn is The Journal’s deputy editorial-pages editor (eachorn@projo.com).
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