bjturk.commentary: vote no on everything

bjturk.commentary
hanging from my own rope

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this bjturk.commentary:
vote no on everything

I cannot take this crap anymore. This has been, without a doubt, the most hateful campaign season I have ever had the misfortune to endure. The attack ads have been going on since before the primary, and there has been no letup. It has been non-stop hate, between candidates as well as on opposing sides of ballot propositions. Is there a ballot measure or candidate out there worthy of a vote who will not spend the entire campaign running down the opposition?

I have come up with my own solution for half of the problem. I cannot address the hate campaigns of the candidates, but I can deal with the ballot measures. I will vote No on every last one, and I recommend that you do the same. While some measures appear to be worthy, are they really?

The truth is that there is no such thing as a grass-roots campaign anymore because political campaigns are so expensive. Special interests line up to put one measure after another on the ballot, then build enough of a smokescreen to dupe the electorate into passing it. We all end up with bad laws that benefit only the special interests who supported them, and we cannot afford to overturn them. Since the legislature is usually in pocket of those special interests, they will not act to overturn the measures, arguing that it is "the will of the people."

I have read every proposition this year and am horrified by the gaping loopholes and faulty intellects behind every one of them. Some purport to protect the environment, but they do not. One wants to fund early childhood programs through additional tobacco taxes, but cannot possibly do so effectively because it over-taxes cigarettes, adding another eighty cents per pack. This will adversely affect existing programs that also depend on tobacco tax revenue for their funding because the hefty tax will kill sales. Just about every measure on the ballot is a good idea that is poorly executed, but the good idea that is sold to the public tends to ensure that most will pass despite their significant and occasionally frightening shortcomings.

In my previous commentary ("political charities"), I discussed (and was disgusted by) two competing, similar, anti-smoking measures. Both of these restrict freedom. As an American, I am morally opposed to enacting more and more laws that impair liberty. Why can we not repeal things from time to time? Instead, we add restriction upon restriction. This is what ballot propositions usually do to us. It is long past time to bring this relentless tyranny to an end. Together, we can do so, and there is no better time than now, and the hatefulness gives us no better reason.

As I write this, the election is tomorrow. I have decided how I will vote on the candidates, however reprehensible most of the them have run their campaigns. By now, I assume that most of you have done so as well. Once you have selected your candidates, when you get to the propositions, I strongly urge you to vote No on each. Do not shackle yourself by another special interest bad idea. Your freedom is at stake. One of our founding fathers noted that the people will tend to vote away the very freedoms for which their fathers fought and died, and we have, so we must stop before it is too late.

Do your part to make it stop. If the measure does not repeal an existing law, you must vote No. We all must vote No. Let the selfish, freedom-hating special interests spend millions on campaigns, and let it all be for nothing. Let the legislature do its job and pass laws, if it must, rather than defer to the electorate with this referendum or that to make us responsible for their bad ideas. Make democracy work by making it work for you, and for all of us. Kill the entangling vines of special interest legislation that gradually choke us all. Vote No on everything, and vote No on every negative campaigner too.

Oh, wait. That means that you would have to vote against everyone. That could be tricky...

November 6, 2006

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