Schimek certainly isn’t new to the game. Last year she introduced legislation to force petitioners to wear large badges in public, displaying personal information. This equivalent of a Yellow Star would have made it easier to harass and intimidate any citizen who dared petition his or her government. Today’s leftist thugs who have embraced street-theater warfare as a legitimate tactic of (or against) democracy must have wetted themselves when they heard of this measure. And wept when it failed.

Little do these legislators care if courts later find they have violated the constitutional rights of their constituents. They don’t pay the wasted legal fees; the taxpayers do. For instance, two years ago when the cities of Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, attempted to deny people circulating a Taxpayer Bill of Rights petition access to public property. It took a federal judge to stop them. They not only ran up their own legal tab, but also — because the civil rights abuse was so egregious and purposeful — were required by the judge to pay over $100,000 to cover the challenger’s legal bills.

Apparently, there’s no ignominy in passing unconstitutional restrictions. Legislators deem any law — no matter how short-lived — effective if it silences citizens who cannot afford legal challenges. And while litigation goes on, the law remains law, prohibiting citizens from effectively gathering signatures.

Politicians are at war with their constituents. In war you use short-term counter-measures as well as long-term ones.

Thankfully, a few politicians show a great deal more respect for the state’s citizens and constitution. When Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman vetoed Schimek’s bill, he wrote to legislators:

In my view, the restrictions proposed by LB39, when coupled with the signature threshold requirements that exist in current law, would unfairly inhibit the ability of citizens to petition their government. I do not believe that we should enact additional barriers to the powers that are reserved for the people in Article III of the Nebraska Constitution.

In fact, Nebraska’s supreme court has ruled that Nebraska’s unicameral has no legitimate power to pass such restrictions, ruling many years ago that the constitutional establishment of the process also means that, “Any legislation which would hamper or render ineffective the power reserved to the people would be unconstitutional.”

This Tuesday, however, Nebraska’s legislature will be back at it, attempting to override the Governor’s veto in what, for some like Schimek, will be their last chance to violently slash back at the power of the people, the power that dares set limits on politicians.

Those who care about such issues — you know, freedom, the First Amendment, and all that — might weigh in with their own voices.