Claiming his father’s election and Brexit were both an “overwhelming mandate for change” is proof Donald Trump Jr. doesn’t know the definition of overwhelming or what a real mandate looks like. Seriously. Our 45th president lost the popular vote by 2 percent. And the four-point Brexit spread wasn’t just small. It must be put in the context of public consent given without knowing the details of the deal.<\/p>\n
The last point applies to the election of Gov. Mike Dunleavy and his proposed budget. And there’s an Alaska story to back it up.<\/p>\n
A few days after Trump Jr. offered his hubristic opinion to readers of the The Telegraph, hundreds of thousands of Londoners took to the streets to demand a second referendum. They believe that the people should be entitled to vote on the actual Brexit deal negotiated by the United Kingdom and European Union.<\/p>\n
[Opinion: New Zealand’s quick action on gun control shames the U.S. Congress]<\/a><\/ins><\/p>\n The Alaskans who formed the original Fiscally Responsible Alaskans Needing Knowledge (FRANK) Committee would agree with the protesters. In 1978 they put that idea on the ballot.<\/p>\n Four years earlier, the state voted 57-43 to build a new capitol at an undetermined location at least 30 miles from Anchorage and Fairbanks. The Legislature was given direction to fund it and ensure construction began by 1980. Like Brexit, the details, including the cost to the taxpayers, would be worked out later.<\/p>\n But a group that called themselves FRANK managed to get a measure on the 1978 general election ballot that would force the voters to approve the cost of the new capitol. It passed. And in 1982, Alaskans decided the $2.8 billion price tag was too high. The capitol stayed in Juneau.<\/p>\n The six-point margin that undid the 1974 vote wasn’t very convincing though. So a decade later the question came up again. That proposal to move the capitol to Wasilla was rejected by more than nine points.<\/p>\n