2007年VOA标准英语-Florida Law Firm Promotes McLaws

By Steve Mort
Hollywood, Florida
20 July 2007
 

A company in the southern U.S. state of Florida is offering a service to help people write their own laws.  For a fee, the Law Store will help members of the public draft legislation and then get it enacted² through a referendum.  The Law Store describes its pieces of legislation as McLaws -- a reference to the fast food offered by restaurants such as McDonalds.  But as Steve Mort reports, critics say the service undermines the right of citizens to petition their government.

Margaret Kessler

At a recording³ studio in the town of Hollywood, Florida, The Law Store's Margaret Kessler records an advertisement that will air on a local radio station. It urges voters to back a law that her company wrote to make it harder for sex offenders⁴ to live in certain areas.

It's just one of the pieces of legislation that members of the public have asked The Law Store to draft - and she is now drumming up the support it needs to become law.

"It's the most democratic way of doing things,” says Margaret Kessler of The Law Store. “And we looked at the program and felt that this really is very much the type of democracy that our Founding Fathers had in mind because it gives control of city decisions back to the people that live in a city."

In U.S. cities, such as Miami, local rules often allow people to petition for changes to the law -- and that is where The Law Store comes in.

Kessler's team of lawyers will draw up a law for anyone with few thousand dollars to spend - and then gather the signatures needed to have it put as a referendum for voters to consider in a special election.

The draft is worded carefully so officials can't modify or reject it. Then if enough voters support the measure, it becomes law.

Kessler says members of the public have the power to change election laws or even how much tax they pay. "At the end of the day, it simply comes down to a vote of the people. And if the majority of people want something done, it gets done".

Dario Moreno, political science professor at Florida International University

But critics accuse The Law Store of doing more harm than good. "I mean, lets face it, this is a publicity⁶ stunt⁷. It's a way for a lawyer to make a little bit of extra money and it's really not going to help ordinary people," says Dario Moreno, a political science professor at Florida International University. He says The Law Store is using the system to ram⁵ through silly laws in special elections that can cost the taxpayer⁸ millions of dollars.

As a result, he says, city governments such as the one in Miami are beginning to take away the public's ability to petition for change on important issues.

"They're abusing one of the important rights that citizens have,” says Marino, “which is the right to petition their government for change and to enact¹ change and to go over the heads of their elected representatives. And if this is abused it will become more difficult to use the initiative process to make positive change."

But back at the recording studio, Margaret Kessler is already recording another advertisement. She says she will press on with her work as long as the rules allow her to, and envisages⁹ companies like The Law Store springing up across America.

1 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

2 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

4 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

5 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

6 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

7 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

8 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

9 envisages   

想像，设想( envisage的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The board envisages that there will be a high profit. 董事会预期将会获得高额利润。
• The paper reviews and envisages the development trend of carbon electrode. 本文对炭电极的发展方向做了回顾与展望。