Prop 113 and 203

Prop 113 is the last of the amendments to the Arizona State Constitution. It would guarantee the right to a secret ballot when voting to create or join a union. It is an active measure against a move by large unions to re-establish their hold on American industry that, until the last election, has been waning.

Let me first say that I have a fundamental issue with unions today.

Granted they have accomplished some admirable things in the past. They are responsible for ending child labor in the US. They are also responsible for employers providing reasonably safe work conditions.

However, for the most part they have out lived their usefulness. The only thing that they do now is choke businesses, extort money from hard working individuals, raise prices on everything from groceries to automobiles, and push industry out of the country.

People should be compensated for their performance and their pay should be dependent on the supply and demand for that position. If someone is a good worker, they should get paid more. If someone is a bad worker they should get fired. If someone does a job that very few people have the talent, skill, or experience to do, they should get paid more. If someone does something that a student still in high school could do with fifteen minutes of training, they should be paid less.

But this measure isn’t about whether unions are good or bad, only about whether or not someone has the right to honestly vote on whether or not to join or create a union without being intimidated by union thugs or fellow employees.

The opponents to this measure favor a system a system called card check where your vote is much more public. It opens objecting employees to pressure and intimidation.

“What, don’t you want to look out for your fellow workers?”

“Don’t you care about how they are treating people here?”

“Don’t you know what they did to Tom? Don’t you think he deserves better than that?”

It’s wrong. If people are going to vote on something, whether that is a presidential election or to start a union, they should be able to make their decision privately without intimidation. Protect the secret ballot.

I’m voting an enthusiastic YES for Prop 113!

Prop 203 is a measure that is very long and very complicated, but this is the description at its simplest. Prop 203 would create a system for the medical use of marijuana in Arizona.

I really haven’t made up my mind on the whole issue of drug regulation and how that plays into individual freedoms, drug trafficking, and the future of our country.

Here are my objections to this particular bill.

If marijuana is going to be used as a medicine, it should manufactured and distributed like any other controlled substance. A licensed manufacturer should produce, qualify, package, and distribute it through licensed pharmacies. If you are really pushing for medical marijuana, that is exactly what you would do.

However, if you are really looking for marijuana, and the idea of marijuana, to become more socially acceptable so that eventually it could be legalized entirely, then you would produce a proposition like Prop 203, which sets up an entirely specialized system for marijuana production and distribution.

I’m not saying marijuana shouldn’t be used for medicinal purposes. I’m saying that that is not the goal of Prop 203.

I’m voting NO on Prop 203.