#490 War Referendums, Euthanasia & Poverty December 6, 2019
Upcoming Referendums The U.S. is having a major election November 3, 2020, and we started a list of U.S. state referendums in a blog post. We plan to launch a website called Peace & Life Referendums on January 6. We’ve been highlighting some of the possibilities weekly; there will be quite a set of abortion referendums, and ones relating to poverty and racism, and even a couple on abolishing slavery completely. This week: War
If there’s anything that can be said about war, it’s that it’s never directly on the ballot. Citizens aren’t usually consulted. But there are related matters worth attention. These are gathering signatures, so they might be on the ballot.
Arizona - Prevent Mining at Oak Flat, sponsored by Save Oak Flat. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 allowed for copper mining of Apache land with a land swap the Apache never approved (which adds a component of racism). Much of the copper would be used in military equipment. Missouri - No Removal of Historic Memorials without Legislative Approval. This would prevent localities from making democratic decisions about such things as war memorials. We’d be pleased if this were defeated, and by a large margin. Guns: While general regulations about gun ownership aren’t one of our issues, having military-style weapons available to civilians can be regarded as a war – the mass shootings are mini-wars, and often based on similar reasoning to war. Florida and Oregon may have referendums on banning assault weapons. We’d be grateful for anyone drawing our attention to other referendums for which a case can be made that there’s a relationship to stopping war. We’ll add writing, videos, and artwork to the new website to help educate people on the connections to consistent-life issues. Anyone wanting to contribute those, or simply offer points that should be made or links to other good websites, can send them to weekly@consistent-life.org.
Euthanasia / Poverty Link See this disturbing December 3 post: Québec man asked for euthanasia based on nursing home living conditions.
Latest CLN Blog Post This week’s offering expounds on the idea that Political Homelessness is Better than a Wrong Political Home (author’s pen name: Ms. Boomer-ang).
Quotation of the Week Katherine Timpf Kamala Harris’s Attack on Tulsi Gabbard Is What’s Wrong with America National Review, November 22, 2019 Note: This is a case where we’re not only quoting someone who isn’t a consistent lifer, but it’s not even on the topic of the consistent life ethic or its component issues. But the principle expounded is very meaningful to us.
It’s sad, but it’s true: Our country has largely accepted the idea that refusing to be a shill for either side means that you’re not “loyal,” but the truth is, it really means the opposite. It means that you are being loyal to your own principles, and that is far more admirable. It takes far more courage (and time spent in thoughtful consideration) to decide your views for yourself and espouse them than it does to be a partisan-hack sheep and go along blindly with a side. . . . the people who have power over us can become too powerful if they know they will have everyone on their “side” unabashedly defending any and all of their behavior, regardless of how egregious it might be. They will assume that they can get away with anything and govern us accordingly.
Responses/News Tips/Questions to share are all welcome.
Send to weekly@consistent-life.org.
