My Voting Thoughts

By now if you are anything like me you are sick of the political rhetoric that is going on with the Presidential or Senatorial races.  If you haven't made up your mind by now, then you are a glutton for punishment.  I have tried to keep politics out of my blogs this election season, other than my campaign to get informed on your own rather through the television, I think I have done a pretty good job.

One thing I would like to talk about today that I believe are being ignored  through all of the political mudslinging, are the ballot questions.  I am going to give my opinion on the questions and which way I will be voting.  This is in no way meant to entice you or persuade you.  This is just a guy writing a blog the day before the election.

I feel the ballot questions do not get enough play in the public, and I am not sure why that is.  Is it because ballot questions are usually a result of a petition from special interest groups, and then those interests groups scare voters into voting that way?  For instance the vote on banning dog racing a few years back.  I voted no on that question because I apparently understood what would happen if race tracks closed more than the MSPCA.  The only ones that would have their jobs spared in such a ban would be, you guessed it, the dogs.  They would just get shipped off to states that had dog racing.  Jobs and tax revenue gone from Massachusetts, because the MSPCA spent a large amount of money scaring the public into thinking they were saving the lives of these dogs.  Wrong!

Anyway, this year’s three ballot questions are three pretty good ones and to be honest I really went back and forth on these as two of them really test your view on values.

Question 1:  Right to Repair - this one is a no brainer for me.  I don't take my car to the dealership anyway.  The fact that an industry that needed a huge taxpayer bailout 5 years ago should not be able to dictate where I bring my car, (which I paid for, to make AND drive) to be serviced.  Not to mention the fact that GM also has in their warranty that if you don't used their specific "dexos" oil when getting oil changes, then it voids the warranty.  Guess what, they make you pay for that too. I will use whatever oil I so choose.  My Vote: a resounding YES

The next two weren't as easy.

Question 2: Prescribing Medication to End Life - Before reading the proposed law, and I am not quite certain I got the whole thing, I was on the fence with this.  But in the end my Pro-Life stance overcame me.  Now I have no problem with Do Not Resuscitate orders because that isn't speeding up death.  If people want to go home and die, that's fine too, but getting a drug to do it is no different than buying a lethal mix of something off the street.  The law has way too many holes in it and the fact that there is no psych consult and physician administering the medication just turned me away from it.  There needs to be more physician involvement on this for me to even consider it.  My Vote:  NO

Question 3: Medical Use of Marijuana - This question is the one where my beliefs truly don't come out in this law.  Like Question 2, this law also has holes in it.  However, I honestly feel that gambling and marijuana should be legalized.  They are two large tax revenue streams and could possibly eliminate some illegal activities.  But this law is too wide open and vague for its intent.  It allows people to grow their own marijuana for medicinal purposes.  In a time of serious economic down turn, isn't that just adding to the criminal element?  According to the studies it helps and I am all for a drug that helps.  My Vote: a reluctant YES, but could be a NO by tomorrow morning.  That's how on the fence I am with this one.

So, there you have it, 3D's take on the ballot questions.  If you disagree with me on these, then check the other box.  If you are not sure, then there is still time to get informed and I urge you to do so.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.