Mr. Bryant may or may not be aware how tricky this all is. The United States Constitution mentions a right of the people to petition the government, and judges have been striking down state legislative attempts to make petitioning harder.

What makes Bryant’s little foray into unconstitutional liberticide interesting is the way he formulated it.

He calls his bill “an emergency.”

I’ve mocked this elsewhere. There’s no emergency in Maine . . . just citizens going about doing their business as citizens. There’s certainly no crisis, except in the confidence citizens place (less and less each day) in their so-called representatives.

And Bryant’s bill exacerbates that crisis. So why this talk of “emergency”?

Well, look elsewhere. In cities, states, and counties around the country, politicians use the word “emergency” to avoid subjecting their laws to citizen oversight, input, and possible repeal.

In Lewis and Clark County, Montana, county bigwigs used the cover of “emergency” to ignore established rules for public comment on proposed zoning changes.

In Oregon, another “zoning emergency” was invoked to prohibit any development within spitting distance of the old Oregon Trail. It turns out that most Oregon legislation receives the imprimatur of “emergency,” just to avoid giving citizens even the slightest opportunity to challenge the law by citizen referendum.

Washington State’s Supreme Court ruled that the state’s legislature may suspend citizen-voted law whenever it wants, so long as it is specified on grounds of “the immediate preservation of the public peace . . . and its existing public institutions.”

These examples are from but one corner of the country. The problem is pervasive nationwide. Look at legislation in your state. Or city, or county. You will find regular abuse of the term “emergency.”

American government today plays the part of the Great and Powerful Oz, an old man hidden behind a curtain trying to scare a little girl. If he booms out the word “emergency” often enough, he hopes we won’t look behind the curtain.

It’s the job of the citizen to yap like Toto. And tear the curtain to shreds.