Sometimes it seems like there are more and more bad things happening in the world with respect to individual liberty – from the medical system to gun control to surveillance cameras to tax increases – and certainly a great deal of The Freedom Bulletin is dedicated to pointing out and fighting back against these injustices. But I thought it would be cool to point out some of the good things that have happened in the past week or so, some of the small and not-so-small victories for individual liberty:
Cuba legalized the purchase and sale of cars last Wednesday.
The town of Northampton, MA might allow households to have up to 12 chickens instead of just 3.
One week ago, New York eliminated the requirement for people to take eye tests when they renew their driver’s license.
Australia decided to allow women to serve in all roles in the armed forces, including on the front lines, which is a great decision in my opinion because only people’s abilities should determine what jobs they are allowed to do, not their gender.
The King of Saudi Arabia decided to allow women to vote and run for office in future elections.
Several states are relaxing their alcohol laws. For example, Atlanta might repeal its ban on alcohol sales on Sunday, and people touring the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee might be allowed to sample the whiskey.
Massachusetts is (hopefully) getting close to allowing casino gambling. The state senate is debating a bill to allow three casinos and a slots parlor after the house passed a similar bill.
The Death With Dignity ballot initiative in Massachusetts is getting a lot of publicity lately. Dr. Marcia Anell wrote an excellent opinion piece about it in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Massachusetts might have a lot of questions on the 2012 ballot. On Wednesday, 23 ballot initiatives passed Attorney General Martha Coakley’s review and now will need to get 68,911 signatures by this November and (unless the legislature takes action) 11,485 more by next July.
They include:
- Giving people 3 days to cancel car purchases
- Expanding the do-not-call law to include charitable organizations that use telemarketers
- Amending the state constitution to require legislators to ensure that all people have “comprehensive, affordable, equitably financed” health insurance (this won’t appear until the 2014 ballot because constitutional amendments require the approval of 25% of the state legislature two sessions in a row)
- Limiting annual increases in water and sewer rates to 2.5%
- Legalizing medical marijuana (website)
- Legalizing assisted suicide for people with terminal illnesses (website)
- Creating a Citizens’ 9/11 Investigation Commission
- Requiring car manufacturers to share information with repair shops that they need to repair vehicles (website)
- Banning car insurance companies from setting prices based on credit score, education, or occupation
- Banning certain types of fishing equipment that could endanger whales
- Establishing consequences for teacher evaluations (website)
- Expanding the bottle deposit law to include water, juice, and other drinks
- Repealing the state’s individual health insurance mandate (website)
- Allowing grocery stores to sell wine
- Requiring the RMV to notify drivers, when suspending or revoking their licenses, of the exact laws they are accused of violating
- Legalizing secretly recording public officials who are performing their official duties in a public place
Among the initiatives that did not make it through were one to develop three casinos, one to require competitive bidding for energy contracts, and one to require people to provide photo ID in order to vote. The latter question’s backer, Olivier Kozlowski (and radio host Michael Graham) criticized the AG’s decision, saying, ”In Massachusetts, the cheapest ID you can get from the Registry is $25. If there’s someone out there who doesn’t need an ID for anything else in their entire life other than voting, then their ‘freedom of elections’ has been infringed upon, under the Massachusetts constitution.” I actually agree with the AG on this one. A similar ID requirement was upheld by the Supreme Court in Indiana, but photo IDs are free there. To charge $25 for an ID and to require an ID in order to vote is to charge $25 to vote. While I understand why people want to make voter fraud more difficult, requiring people to purchase an item in order to vote is tantamount to a poll tax, and this simply infringes upon the right to vote.
Sources: Mass.gov, MassLive.com, Boston Globe
Today was the deadline for ballot initiatives to be filed in Massachusetts for the 2012 election. There are some interesting initiatives that are aiming to get on the ballot:
- The Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance wants to legalize medical marijuana for people suffering from cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, or other serious illnesses. People would need permission from a doctor, and they could only get marijuana from treatment centers that would be regulated by the state Department of Public Health.
- The Fatherhood Coalition filed an initiative to abolish Chapter 209A, a law which allows people to get restraining orders without proof, of even an allegation, of wrongdoing. Designed to protect victims of domestic abuse, the law can also be used unjustly by people who are merely mad at their spouse or want to kick them out of the house.
- Massachusetts Citizens for Life is trying to abolish the state’s individual mandate, which requires all residents to have health insurance. I am glad to see this because, while the national individual mandate is the subject of a lot of controversy and criticism, the state one hasn’t been nearly as much.
- David Nunez, a Colorado casino developer, submitted a petition to allow three casinos in Massachusetts.
- Stand For Children wants teachers’ merit to be weighed above seniority in hiring, layoff, and transfer policies.
- Plus, there were 26 other petitions filed, for a total of 31.
To make it onto the ballot, each question must be certified by Attorney General Martha Coakley. Then, organizers must collect the signatures of 68,911 registered voters by November, as well as another 11,485 signatures by next July.
August 4 update: How did I miss this one? The Death With Dignity Act, which would allow people with terminal illnesses to obtain drugs to end their lives, is trying to get on the ballot as well. In my opinion, this would definitely be a step in the right direction.
Yesterday, Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian was laid to rest in Troy, Michigan. He had a public memorial service, allowing supporters to pay their respects to this brave man who fought for people’s right to control the course of their own lives.
“He was brash, sure of himself. He had the guts to do it in public, to bring this issue into public consciousness in a way no one else did,” right-to-die activist Bernie Klein said.
His friend Ruth Holmes said, “Few men are willing to brave … the wrath of society. That was our dear friend, Jack Kevorkian.”
Another supporter, Ed Fisher, said, ”He had a soul. He had a backbone. As far as I’m concerned, he was a hero.”
From what I have heard and read about Dr. Kevorkian, I agree with these thoughts. He deserves to be remembered as a defender of individual rights and liberty.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the doctor known for his devotion to helping people end their lives, passed away yesterday at the age of 83. He invented a machine that enabled terminally ill people to peacefully inject themselves with lethal drugs, which he says he used with at least 130 people, and as a result, he spent 8 years in prison for second-degree murder.
Kevorkian is unarguably a controversial figure, but I think he is an honorable man who stood for liberty. Kevorkian was a fan of the Ninth Amendment, which states, ”The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” This means that people don’t have only the rights specified in the Bill of Rights; they have the right to do anything that is not explicitly prohibited by the Constitution or, more philosophically speaking, anything that does not violate the rights of someone else.
This includes the right to end one’s own life, a right that Kevorkian made his life’s mission. I agree with him that people should be able to end their own lives if they so wish, and he did 13o people a great service by giving them the ability to do this. It is cruel to require terminally ill people to be subjected to a painful, often undignified death. All that Kevorkian did was to give people a way to make their own decisions about death and to die in a more painless, dignified manner. It is wrong that he was charged with murder for helping people who freely chose to die. Many doctors today believe that they know what is good for people, and what those people want to do with their own bodies does not matter. By respecting their wishes, Kevorkian showed his patients more respect than most doctors do, and he should be saluted for that.
“When your conscience says law is immoral, don’t follow it.” ~ Dr. Jack Kevorkian (May 26, 1928 – June 3, 2011)
Famous psychiatrist Keith Ablow blogged about an advertising campaign from Final Exit Network, a pro-assisted-suicide organization, which is posting billboards along highways that read “My life. My death. My choice.” Dr. Ablow argues that these billboards could trigger people with depression to commit suicide, and that the organization should be held liable if that happened.
I disagree. All that the billboard says is that people have the right to choose whether to live or die. It doesn’t encourage anyone to kill themselves or say that dying is a better decision than living; it just says that both are valid choices. If someone decides to commit suicide, it means that at that point in time, they believed suicide to be the best option. In my opinion, people have a right to make that decision, even though it is drastic and in some cases might be rash.
People commit suicide because their lives are so miserable that they would prefer death, whether because of a terminal illness, low self-esteem, being tormented or bullied by others, or some other reason. These things are the causes of suicide that need to be solved, not some billboard proclaiming that you have the right to decide for yourself how and when to die (which is true). Billboards do not force anyone to commit suicide, nor can they truly cause suicide, and the creators of such billboards should not be held responsible for anyone’s deaths.
After my (appropriately) depressing post about the election yesterday, I thought I’d recap the few good decisions voters made. Yes, I said that America did the wrong thing on almost every choice, but “almost” is the key word. Here are the few things voters did right:
- It looks like Proposition 8 is going to pass in California! I’m very pleasantly surprised that a state with such a liberal reputation is actually trying to put an end to gay marriage. Marriage is not a right, and the voters have every right to ban it. I hope the state government doesn’t somehow try to overrule the people’s decision like Massachusetts did.
- Arizona and Florida approved resolutions to ban gay marriage, too.
- Nebraska voted to end affirmative action. This discriminatory practice is insulting and unfair to people of all races and genders.
- Washington voted to allow doctor-assisted suicide. Committing suicide does not hurt anyone and is not immoral, so there is no reason why people shouldn’t be allowed to do it if they choose to.
- Colorado rejected an amendment that would define “person” as “any human being from the moment of fertilization.” In philosophy, a person is defined as a rational, autonomous being. Fetuses (and babies, by the way) are therefore not persons, and to define them as such would be contrary to the rules of the English language.
