Deacon: 'No' on Issue 1 to protect Ohio from greed, stop 1 county from blocking will of majority

Nick Bates, J.D. is an ordained deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He currently serves as the director of the Hunger Network in Ohio, an ecumenical ministry that seeks to address the root causes of poverty. The Hunger Network board endorsed a 'no' vote on Issue 1 in June.

There are many things we take for granted these days — children not dying on factory floors, social security, worker’s compensation, minimum wage, health insurance, and so much more.

Before women’s suffrage or Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal were passed in the Halls of Congress, church fellowship halls were the centers for debate on many of these ideas.

The late 19th and early 20th century saw people of faith around the country seek to address human suffering and live out the command to love thy neighbor.

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In an age of scientific advancement and industrialization, America saw corruption in politics and corporate America grow faster than production on the new assembly lines. Extreme wealth, concentrated amongst a few, left far too many Americans out in the cold.

Sound familiar?

Faith leaders — wanting to live out the command to love thy neighbor — collaborated with unions, children’s advocates, education leaders, and many others to serve neighbors in need and advocate for basic human dignity.

During this time, the community knew our charitable efforts wouldn’t be enough without social reforms and public accountability.

The Social Gospel, in addition to feeding those who were hungry today, worked to address the root causes of poverty and human suffering. It was evident that unchecked greed and a lack of public accountability led to the suffering of people in a quickly changing landscape of both rural and urban America. Social Gospel leader Eltweed Pomeroy was the first director of the National Direct Legislation League. 

Ohioan Rev. Herbert Bigelow, from Vine Street Congregational Church in Cincinnati, attended one of the first gatherings of the National Direct Legislation League, along with many other Ohioans.

The National Direct Legislation League inspired and worked with local leaders in Ohio to push for Ohio’s initiative and referendum process that passed in 1912 with 57.5% of the vote.  When the people have the power to amend the state constitution can we keep political corruption and political apathy in check?

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This truly puts citizens at the top, and it puts politicians in the role we need them to fill — public servants.

When the sin of greed is left unchecked, it will always try to find loopholes and ways around any checks and balances in society.

Ohioans, with access to the initiative and referendum, have the ability to update and modify guardrails to keep our government working for the people and lift up issues that are otherwise ignored.

Ohioans saw this happen over the past 10 years with the issue of redistricting.

To stop a citizen-initiated referendums on the issue, state leaders drafted their own redistricting ‘reform’. The legislature accepted many proposed reforms in the language, but maintained the power to draw the maps instead of a non-partisan process. Sadly, as the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 2022 multiple times, the legislature ignored many of the new rules.

State Issue 1 on August 8 will limit Ohioans rights to seek real reform.

Right now, bi-partisan forces are already looking at future ballot campaigns to create fairness in our legislative maps. If Issue 1 passes, it will prevent gerrymandering reform from ever getting off the ground.

This is a time in Ohio when we need more accountability of our public officials, not less. We have had two high-profile political scandals in recent years – Former Speakers Cliff Rosenberger resigned in 2018 amid a payday lending lobbyist scandal and Larry Householder was just sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the energy bailout scandal.

Like the social gospel reformers of the early 20th century, we must keep political cronyism in check and referendums and initiatives are one of the most effective tools Ohioans have to do this.

The Social Gospel Reformers and others created a process that has worked for the past 111 years. A 10 day ‘cure period’ allows technical issues with signatures to be worked out. Issue One eliminates this. Neither Cuyahoga or Meigs County should have the ability to stop needed reforms for the entire state.

Issue 1 will allow one county to stop an entire ballot effort. The reformers recognized that majority rule matters to keep political corruption and wealthy campaign contributors in check.

As we continue the work of the social gospel movement today, we must have the right to petition our government and create public accountability.

For many generations, faith leaders in Ohio have fought for civil rights, educational equity, clean water and air, worker rights — simply put our faith calls us to seek the image of God that is reflected in all of our neighbors.

We value our neighbors, and we must value their voices as well.

We encourage all Ohioans to vote no on state Issue 1 to protect Ohio from political corruption and cronyism.

Our right to the ballot is essential for our advocacy work to fight for a day when all shall receive their daily bread.

Nick Bates, J.D. is an ordained deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He currently serves as the director of the Hunger Network in Ohio. Its board endorsed a 'no' vote on Issue 1.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Deacon: 'No' on issue 1 helps stop greed, corruption from finding loopholes