Cav's Place

What everyone knows is that this Tuesday, United States citizens elected their president for the next four years, some 98.5% of those who even bothered to vote completely ignoring any options that might have represented actual solutions and making their choice only between the two major evils, ultimately picking the lesser one by a much larger margin than expected. But, of course, the Democrats are the lesser evil compared to the Republicans only in the sense that losing your hearing would generally be considered less terrible than losing your sight: Neither could ever be desirable or even acceptable choices.
As such, I’ll leave that, as well as the similarly rotten choices for the Senate and House seats that were also up for election, aside and move on to the many other issues that people were asked to weigh in on in various states. Of course, many of those have a strictly local impact or may even be largely technical in nature, yet others are definitely of interest, because they tackle important issues individually and therefore result in a clear message being sent by the voters, which may have a significant impact on a much larger scale. I tried to identify the ones that are particularly significant for those with green and progressive values and present the results as accurately as possible, but if anyone happens to read this and spots any errors or knows of other measures that should be added, let me know.

One issue that was on the ballot in multiple states and received widespread media attention was same-sex marriage, and the results were reassuring. While in Minnesota, where same-sex marriage is not currently permitted, a measure to enforce the ban even further by strictly defining marriage as solely between one man and one woman was rejected, voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington approved legislation explicitly permitting same-sex marriages while at the same time protecting the rights of clergy and religious groups whose beliefs reject homosexuality to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies or offer any other religious marriage-related services to said couples. Interestingly, the Maine vote overturned the voters’ decision from 2009, when an initiative to overturn the existing law which at the time permitted same-sex marriages was approved, so that battle is probably not over yet.

Another hot topic was marijuana legalization, and here the results were mixed. If voters in Oregon rejected a measure which would have permitted regulated recreational use of the herb, those in Colorado and Washington approved similar measures, though how will that work when recreational marijuana use is still illegal at the federal level is still unknown. As for legalizing medical marijuana, voters in Massachusetts were in favor, but the measure was narrowly rejected in Arkansas. In Montana, where medical marijuana use is permitted, voters approved a measure aimed to more strictly regulate the cultivation and distribution of the herb.

And while I’m at smoking, a proposal for an additional tax on tobacco products, aimed to finance programs to reduce and prevent tobacco use in public educational institutions, was rejected in Missouri. On the other hand, voters in North Dakota easily approved banning smoking in indoor public places and most places of employment, including certain outdoor areas. As a personal comment, I find both of these results largely positive, because such programs are pointless and smoking should be a personal choice for all those who also accept responsibility for the consequences, but should certainly be confined to one’s own home.

Back to an issue with mixed results, voters in Florida rejected a measure that would have prohibited the use of public funds for abortions except as required by federal law or to save the mother’s life, but those in Montana overwhelmingly approved one requiring physicians to notify a parent or guardian at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor under 16, with the exception of emergencies or situations where such a requirement is waived by a court or by the parent or guardian in question.

On the matter of assisted suicide, which was on the ballot in Massachusetts, the result was discouraging, as voters narrowly rejected a measure meant to allow people with six months or less left to live to request and be provided with medication allowing them to end their life with dignity, provided that many strict prerequisites are met.

Another profoundly disappointing result was recorded in California, where the tens of millions poured into the campaign by Monsanto and their allies managed to turn public opinion around in mere weeks and persuade voters to reject the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food.

Somewhat related, voters in North Dakota unfortunately approved an amendment guaranteeing the right of farmers and ranchers to employ modern agricultural technology and livestock production and ranching practices. I believe it should be quite clear for everywhere where this is going…

Also very disappointing was that Michigan voters rejected an amendment which would have required 25% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025, even if the proposal strictly limited the increase of the electric utility rates to no more than 1% per year, extending the deadline in case the goal will prove impossible to reach by 2025 with that limitation.

And still on the extremely disappointing note, voters in Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska and Wyoming overwhelmingly approved measures meant to guarantee their rights to hunt and fish, whether for food or sport. Worse, with the possible exception of Wyoming, the measures in question also specified that hunting and fishing will be seen as the preferred methods of controlling wildlife. Voters in Oregon also unfortunately rejected banning commercial salmon fishing using gillnets by non-tribal persons.

While I’m on the topic of animals, voters in North Dakota rejected an initiative which would have made it a felony to harm any living dog, cat or horse in a series of ways. The measure, which made exceptions for production agriculture, hunting, licensed veterinarians, scientific research and self-defense, was challenged due to not covering more species or all forms of serious abuse. Still, the law could have been improved later, so I’m leaning towards considering this another disappointment.

And since I mentioned hunting earlier, and that usually involves guns, a measure aimed to strengthen gun rights was easily approved in Louisiana. Unlike most others with green and progressive values, I consider this to be a good thing, because it has to do with people’s right to defend themselves. I’d certainly like any such measures to state that guns should be owned for self-defense purposes and not for hunting, however.

Back to California, an initiative to eliminate the death penalty, replacing it with a life sentence without the possibility of parole, was unfortunately defeated. On the other hand, voters easily approved modifying the state’s “Three Strikes” law to reduce the number of crimes for which the third conviction will automatically result in a life sentence.

On the matter of separation of church and state, a slippery amendment, stating that nobody should be discriminated against or barred from receiving funding on the basis of religious belief but also, and perhaps much more notably, removing the existing ban on using state funds to directly or indirectly aid religious organizations, was defeated in Florida.

Still on the issue of funds, though this time not state funds, voters in California unfortunately rejected a proposition which would have banned corporate and union contributions to state and local candidates, contributions by government contractors to the politicians who control contracts awarded to them, as well as using any automatic wage deductions or union dues for political purposes without explicit authorization from members.

And speaking of corporations, Montana voters thankfully easily approved an initiative stating that corporations are not human beings and therefore are not entitled to constitutional rights, and also charging state delegates with offering an amendment to the United States Constitution to establish this fact. The initiative also aims to prohibit corporate campaign contributions and limit political campaign spending.

While I’m at elections, voters in Minnesota rejected an amendment requiring all voters in the state to show photo identification before being allowed to vote… And I’m still wondering why is this such an issue, just like I’m also baffled by the whole mess related to identification in the United Kingdom. I’ll say that I’m ambivalent on this one, but it’s possibly another issue on which my stance differs from that of other progressives, as I think that people should generally have a clear way to prove who they are whenever a person’s identity may be relevant.

And speaking of issues where my stance clashes with that of most others with green and progressive values, I’m rather pleased that Oklahoma voters approved banning affirmative action in the areas of government employment, contracting and education. Discrimination is discrimination, regardless of which way it goes.

As for another issue that I’m quite ambivalent on but gather that others with similar values were bothered by, Michigan voters repealed an existing law allowing the state to appoint emergency managers to take over local municipalities and school districts experiencing serious financial difficulties.

Last but definitely not least, the issue of immigrants also saw mixed results, with voters in Maryland in favor of allowing undocumented immigrants who meet a certain set of criteria to pay the same in-state or in-county tuition fees for Maryland colleges as legal residents, but those in Montana overwhelmingly backing a proposal requiring a person to provide proof of citizenship before receiving state services.

Since this is already long enough and I spent way too long writing it already, I won’t try to draw many conclusions, but merely say that, if I counted correctly, I agreed with 16 of the results presented above, was ambivalent about two and disagreed with 17. As such, even if the media’s focus on gay marriage and the legalization of recreational marijuana aims to make progressives believe that the results were very positive, from my perspective the overall numbers are at best mediocre. Worse, if you focus on the measures that had to do with green values, you’ll see that the results were in fact abysmal, with not as much as a single positive outcome on any of the nine measures that had to do with the environment or animal rights… But when the people who currently have the legal right to decide in such cases, be they politicians or the masses, are allowed to do so, that’s generally a given.