Let’s Start Previewing the Fall Election - State Ballot Measures

There’s a lot on the ballot this November. At the federal level, one of our United States Senate seats is up as is our seat in Congress. At the state level, the Governorship, Lt. Governorship, Attorney General, State Treasurer, State Secretary, State Assembly and half of our State Senate are all up for election. Further, the county constitutional offices are up.

Also on the ballot are two ballot measures. I will briefly profile them today.

One measure would put a ban on gay civil unions, marriage and other benefits of domestic partnerships into our state’s constitution. The other would be an advisory referendum on whether or not Wisconsin should have the death penalty.

Both are stupid.

The measure to ban gay marriages and civil unions would make Wisconsin less like, well, Wisconsin and a whole lot more like Mississippi. It would enshrine family law into our constitution by banning gay marriage (already illegal), civil unions (ditto) and potentially other laws that affect domestic partners. This perhaps is the most egregious.

It is one thing to not support gay marriages. Yes, it is a wonderful institution that deserves state protection from the homos. Hell, almost half of them work out. Let’s not ruin it by allowing two people who love each other to share their commitment via marriage. Even if two people who don’t even know each other’s names can get married by Elvis without evening leaving their car in Las Vegas, let ‘s not let the homos near it. We don’t want to buy more wedding gifts.

And civil unions, hell no. Legal recognition of any kind is wrong. Let the lawyers sort out the affairs of gay “couples”. Who needs legal protections like the other ninety percent of society? No way, bucko. I don’t care if two-thirds of Wisconsinites believe in civil unions, we can’t go there.

But the part that really needs attention is the part in the language proposed to voters that says anything ‘substantially similar’ is not allowed. What does that mean? Well in Ohio and Utah that means opposite sex, unmarried couples are not allowed any benefits that could be given only to married couples. That includes benefits like access to domestic violence laws. In both states men and women have been denied things like restraining orders when they’ve encountered domestic violence, due to their state’s passing a constitutional amendment defining marriage. And in Michigan, the state decided to no longer allow health care benefits to non-married couples. Yup, taking away health care certainly must be in God’s plan.

The bottom line is that the amendment was concocted to help get out the conservative base vote in the fall elections. Period. No good public policy benefit. No real debate. Just a tool for conservative tools. Think Jenna and Co.

Use one group of people to get what you want. Machiavelli would be so proud.

My prediction: Thanks to the strong opposition of the faith community, labor, progressive groups and fair-minded citizens, the measure will fail, making Wisconsin the first state to turn back one of these idiotic measures. And in the process, more younger voters will turn out on college campuses helping elect more Democrats to the state legislature. Thanks John Gard.

On the advisory question of the death penalty, I advise you to reread the reason why the marriage amendment is on the ballot: to bring out conservative voters.

Without getting into the many, many reasons why killing people in the name of the state is wrong for Wisconsin, one really only need to know that it doesn’t deter anyone. The reasons offered why we need it are as wrong as most, no, every conservative dumb-dit. Once, again, conservatives think the public is stupid. I guess if that’s true we really do have a representative democracy in the state legislature.

Every poll shows strong support for the general concept.

My prediction: It passes by a wide margin. A meaningless referendum passes, without the permanent harm of the other amendment. We look stupid, but we still don’t have the death penalty in our statutes.

Watch for more of my fall election analysis, website links, political gossip and telling of conservative lies. I’ll be sure to write more of what you want. Post me suggestions for what else you might like covered. I aim to please.