It was appropriately named to attract the largest number of uninformed voters it can get.

What's not to like about "hometown?" It's such a local word and applies to you and me and where we're living today. Then throw in "democracy" and it would be almost sacriligious to vote against anything that remotely sounds un-American.

The premise behind this state constitutional amendment is horizontal in nature. It assumes that each and every one of us knows (or will learn) everything there is to know about zoning and land use regulations that some attorneys - like the John Kopelousoses of the world  - have spent an entire career learning.

I care about what happens around me but I'm not being paid nor have I been appointed to know as much as our county planners and planning commissioners. Nor do I have the weight of the electorate on my shoulders like a county commissioner does who has ultimate responsibility for zoning and land use changes.

And that's what this amendment effectively does. It takes the job away from the people who have the greatest experience with the information and places it in the hands of the uninformed voter. What a recipe for disaster!

It is an end-around our representative form of government.

I'd rather pay professionals to do the job they're educated to do and then as citizens, apply the pressure on our county government to grow our county as we appear to be doing right now. Through blogs, homeowner associations and through our elective processes.

Don't get caught up in a name. Become informed and ask yourself, do I know what the housing density level is in an agricultural land use designation? Do I care to find out?