SQ 776: Death Penalty
YES affirms Oklahoma’s right to
carry out the death penalty and legitimizes all methods of execution with an
amendment to the state constitution.
NO preserves the status quo
and does not affirm the legitimacy of the death penalty.
In my opinion, capital punishment is a bad idea because of the possibility of executing innocent people. You can read my thoughts on capital punishment here. Due to my objection to capital punishment, I will be voting NO on 776.
In my opinion, capital punishment is a bad idea because of the possibility of executing innocent people. You can read my thoughts on capital punishment here. Due to my objection to capital punishment, I will be voting NO on 776.
SQ 777: Right to Farm
YES ensures the right of people
to participate in farming and ranching without state interference. This
would constitutionally restrict new laws that regulate or prohibit farming. If
this question passes, farming and ranching will be treated like a fundamental
right akin to free speech or freedom of religion, and the legal threshold for restricting
it would be very high.
NO preserves the status quo
and allows prospective regulation on farming and ranching.
The ability to farm on one’s own land is a basic
property right just like the right to build a deck on your house or put a
swimming pool in your back yard. However, some opponents of this question fear that
restricting regulation will allow big agricultural business to run over small
farmers, mistreat animals, and damage the environment. My instinct is that
these fears are overstated, and I am always in favor of removing the red tape
that binds industrious people like farmers. But, I have also had several people make good cases against this bill to me. Because of this, I will ABSTAIN on 777. There is nothing wrong with admitting
you aren’t sure what the right choice is. Abstaining allows the voices of
those who understand the issue to be heard more loudly.
SQ 779: Raising Taxes to Fund Education
YES raises state sales tax by
1% to help fund education with an amendment to the state constitution.
NO preserves the status quo
and does not increase state sales tax.
It’s clear that Oklahoma’s teacher pay is not
competitive and that our education system is lacking. Education is extremely
important. However, nationwide trends show that simply improving funding does
not effect test scores. Even so, I would like to see more money spent on
education. But it should come from the right place, and I don’t think
increasing sales tax is the smartest way.
Oklahoma already has a high sales tax rate, nearly
10%. This tax increase would make Oklahoma’s sales tax the highest the country.
Businesses take this kind of thing seriously. High sales taxes can chase
shoppers and businesses into neighboring states. If this tax impacts business
within Oklahoma, it could actually result in reduced tax revenue, not
increased, and it would damage our state economy while doing so.
We need to do something about education, but I don’t
think this is how to do it. It’s unclear that it would work, and it could be
damaging. I am in the minority here, but I am voting NO on 779.
SQ 780: Drug Possession
YES means downgrading simple
drug possession (i.e. without intent to distribute) from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Also, YES means reclassifying low-level
nonviolent drug- and theft-related offenses from crimes to misdemeanors by
raising the line from $500 in fines to $1000.
NO preserves the status quo
and continues to treat these offenses as felonies.
Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates
in the country, which is impressive considering that the U.S. already has the world’s
largest prisoner population. We lock up too many people, removing them from
society and making it hard for them to ever become regular citizens again.
Furthermore, the war on drugs has utterly failed,
and we need to ramp down drug prosecution in whatever ways we can. Chasing down
pot smokers is expensive and limits police resources left over to prevent and
punish real crimes like theft and murder, something we have plenty of in
Oklahoma. This one’s easy. I’m voting YES on 780.
SQ 781: Savings Fund Rehab
YES funnels cost savings from
the implementation of SQ 780 to fund rehab programs.
NO does nothing to specify how
the savings would be spent.
This question is really part two of SQ 780, and is
only effective if 780 passes. Together, they treat drugs more as a health issue
than a criminal issue, which has proven to be a helpful strategy when
implemented in places like Portugal and Switzerland. Drug addicts are people
too, and they need help, not prison. In a perfect world, I’d like to see these
savings go somewhere else, like education or paying down the state debt, but
those aren’t on the ballot. What is on the ballot is still pretty good, so I’ll
be voting YES
on 781.
SQ 790: Church and State
YES means allowing the state
government to spend money for religious purposes. It does this by repealing an
amendment to the state constitution that specifically prohibits such spending.
NO means the state government
cannot spend money for religious purposes. The amendment will remain in force.
This is a clear issue of the separation of church
and state. Church and state should not be mixed up in each other because they
interfere with each other’s function. Church and state being together is where
we got things like the Spanish Inquisition and Popes who went to war to expand
their territory. It’s a bad thing.
The only objection I might have is the possible
implication for student vouchers. Vouchers are a system wherein money for
public education is attached to individual students to enable them to go to
whatever school they think is best for them. This would bring competition to
education and raise quality. In my view, this is the real way to fix education.
It’s possible that voting no on this question would make it difficult to
implement a voucher system, since vouchers could be used to send kids to
Christian schools. My guess is that the restriction could be gotten around for
voucher purposes though, so I’m not too worried about it.
It’s also important to note the context of this question.
A few years ago, the Ten Commandments were removed from the state capitol. A
Satanist group wanted to place a shrine honoring Satan alongside the Ten
Commandments, if they were allowed to stay. To a large degree, this question is
about people wanting to put the Ten Commandments back at the capitol, but I
guarantee that, if that happens, the Satanist statue will go up right next to it. As a Christian, I find this idea repugnant. Because of that and the
separation of church and state issue, I will vote NO on 790.
SQ 792: Beer!
YES means untightening several
state alcohol laws. Most importantly, it would allow grocery stores to sell
wine and high point beer, and it would allow liquor stores to sell cold beer.
NO means grocery stores can
only sell beer with 3.2% or less alcohol per volume and liquor stores cannot
sell cold beer.
Oklahoma has some of the most restrictive alcohol
laws in the United States. This question passing would bring our laws more into
line with the rest of the country, where these laws have been functioning quite
well. Our current alcohol laws are a holdover from the Prohibition Era and are
an archaic, unnecessary restriction on freedom. I will vote YES on 792.
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