Just hours before election day, the TV airways are abuzz with presidential and Congressional campaign messages. But around the country, some of the most important votes won’t be cast for president, senate, or house. They won’t be cast for a governor, or even a state representative.
In nine states – Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Arkansas, Florida, Massachusetts and Alabama – voters will get a chance to resist DC and approve ballot initiatives which would nullify unconstitutional federal acts.
Here’s a brief rundown of the nine, a YES vote is urged on each.
1. Montana, Referendum 122
LR-122 is an act “prohibiting the state or federal government from mandating the purchase of health insurance.” It would also prohibit the imposition of “penalties for decisions related to the purchase of health insurance coverage.”
Recent polls show 50% in favor and 41% opposed. It requires a majority for approval.
2. Massachusetts, Question 3
All three branches of the federal government consider the possession, production, sale and consumption of the plant, “marijuana” to be illegal. 17 states are already defying that classification by allowing its use for medicinal purposes. A YES VOTE on Question 3 would “enact the proposed law eliminating state criminal and civil penalties related to the medical use of marijuana, allowing patients meeting certain conditions to obtain marijuana produced and distributed by new state-regulated centers or, in specific hardship cases, to grow marijuana for their own use.”
It has polled as high at 68% in recent weeks. The 18th state to nullify federal laws on weed is likely to do it in a landslide.
3. Alabama, Amendment 6
This legislatively-referred amendment would free Alabama citizens from any requirement to participate in Obamacare, or any other compulsory health care program.The ballot language reads as follows:
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to prohibit any person, employer, or health care provider from being compelled to participate in any health care system.
If passed, the amendment would place the onus on the Alabama legislature and executive branch to block implementation of the PPACA and shield their citizens from federal mandates. The proposed amendment had to garner a 60 percent majority in both the House and the Senate to go to the voters. A simple majority on Nov. 6 will approve the amendment.
4. Oregon, Measure 80
Oregon was the first state to allow women to vote, and supporters liken the push for Measure 80 to that same kind of pioneering spirit. This ballot initiative directly attacks not one, but two federally-banned products – both marijuana and industrial hemp. (the latter being a related plant without THC and used in everything from oil, to food, clothing and more).
The official ballot title is: Allows personal marijuana, hemp cultivation/use without license; commission to regulate commercial marijuana cultivation/sale.
5. Colorado, Amendment 64
Section 3 would allow the “personal use and regulation of marijuana” for adults 21 and over. Section 4 addresses legal commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale. The intent is that marijuana be regulated in a manner similar to alcohol.
Polls have shown support strong to gaining, with the latest ranging around 53% in favor and 43% opposed. It is likely that Colorado will be the nation’s first (or second, read below) state to not only nullify federal marijuana laws for medical purposes – but for the general public as well.
6. Wyoming, Amendment A
Wyoming voters will consider a health care freedom amendment to the Declaration of Rights in the state constitution on Nov. 6.
If Amendment A garners a 50 percent majority, the Wyoming Constitution will guarantee citizens of the state the right to make their own healthcare decisions with minimal governmental interference.
Article 1, Section 38 – Right of Health Care Access
(a) Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions. The parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person.
(b) Any person may pay, and a health care provider may accept, direct payment for health care without imposition of penalties or fines for doing so.
7. Washington State, Initiative 502
Whatever you call the plant, Washington DC considers it dangerous and illegal. Laws on the books in Congress – illegal. The executive branch – aggressive about enforcing those laws. The supreme court – in 2005 ruled against the idea of states legalizing for any purpose.
But yet, 17 states have been standing up and defying DC on this issue by legalizing marijuana for limited medicinal purposes. Massachusetts voters are set to become the 18th state as Question 3 should win by a landslide.
If approved, Washington’s I-502 would take it a step further. It would end marijuana prohibition and treat pot in the same manner as alcohol. People would be allowed to grow, produce, sell, buy and consume the plant – in direct defiance to all three branches of the federal government.
Recent polls all show support ranging from 55-56% in favor with opposition in only the high 30s.
8. Arkansas, Issue 5
The second state to consider a new medical marijuana program this year. Issue 5 would make “the medical use of marijuana legal under Arkansas State Law, and establishing a system for the cultivation, acquisition and distribution of marijuana for qualifying patients through nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries and granting those nonprofit dispensaries limited immunity”
9. Florida, Amendment 1
Florida voters will have the opportunity to tell the feds to go pound the plentiful Sunshine State sand on Nov. 6 when they consider Amendment 1, a health care freedom amendment.
If passed, the amendment will “prohibit laws or rules from compelling any person or employer to purchase, obtain, or otherwise provide for health care coverage.” The proposed amendment would also allow health care providers to accept direct payment for services.
Call it a tax or call it a penalty, in effect, the amendment would nullify the insurance mandate written into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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Michael Boldin [send him email] is the founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. He was raised in Milwaukee, WI, and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. Follow him on twitter - @michaelboldin, on LinkedIn, and onFacebook.
