Ohio Voting Guide

I just sat down to fill out my absentee ballot, and it seemed like a good invitation to compile my political recommendations for online consumption. Be advised all this is comes from a philosophically-evolving, left-leaning libertarian, who has a hard time explaining what that even means.

The Issues: This year I have a pretty good perspective on the issues up for vote because I spent a large part of my summer working as a petitioner to get most of the issues on the ballot. (Granted, I did the work mostly for the money, but it had a bright side.) Anyway, here's the deal:

» Issue 1. Concerning worker's compensation - it appears on my ballot, but apparently has been officially withdrawn. I think it is a matter of questions with the petitions' validity. Which I can tell you firsthand is a bitch to insure, even with the best intentions and strategies. The referendum was very complicated and hard to understand anyway.

» Issue 2. Amendment to raise minimum wage. Includes some exceptions for small businesses, family-owned businesses, etc. That's pretty much all that's to it. This is where my left-leaning tendencies come into play - vote yes on 2.

» Issue 3. Familiarly known as the Ohio Learn and Earn initiative. This is the controversial one, at least for the conservative moralists (although, I suppose, what isn't). Basically, this constitutional amendment will allow slot machines at seven racing establishments across the state. 30% of the revenue will be used to fund college scholarships and grants for Ohio students; the rest goes towards establishment owners and operators, local governments, gaming addiction servies and a commision on gaming integrity.

The real issue at hand here is if one feels she has the right to tell other adults what they can and cannot do with their own time and money. I say, people can do whatever the hell they want without directly hurting someone else, in which category slot machines and gambling in general falls, and if as a result, money is made available for deserving students to attend college, by all means make it possible. Vote yes on 3.

Oh, and if you don't really care, then do me a favor and just vote yes, just to piss off all of the old, bitter and possibly crazy people who felt it necessary to literally scream at me on the street because they don't like gambling.

» Issue 4 & 5. Now I start to show my libertarian stripes in earnest. Both Issues 4 and 5 deal with laws against smoking in public places. Issue 4, in general, overturns many smoking prohibition rules already in place and makes future local prohibitions invalid. Issue 5 seeks to prohibit smoking within places of employment. There's a lot of fine print in these two, so please take the time to read the details on the OhioVotes informational pdf. Essentially, I don't think the government should be telling people if, when, and where they're allowed to smoke. I don't smoke, and I don't prefer to be around it; but I also do not believe this makes me inherently more special than those who do. While I wrote only two paragraphs ago that the one restriction on people's behavior I concede is when it is directly harming others, here we are talking about a nominal, temporary contact that will not necessarily cause permanent harm - and if even the smallest chance of direct harm does exist, I do not believe it is larger than the harm caused by a governmental imposition of preference on its citizens as a whole.

If you don't like direct sunlight and are scared of skin cancer, then you don't sit at a sidewalk cafe that puts you in the line of it. It's that simple. You certainly don't all ban sidewalk cafes that are in the line of direct sunlight. If you don't like smoke and are scared of lung cancer, then you don't go into an establishment that allows smoking. If enough people are boycotting an establishment because of a smoking policy, the establishment itself can make the call on whether or not it wishes to change its policy. If it does, then the smokers who previously patronized it will find or create someplace else to go, and vice versa if the policy is not changed. The bottom line is that individuals are capable of making their own choices about what to do and where to go without the government mandating it for them. They can enact the change they wish to see with their own power, instead of expecting it to be done for them by a condescending, micromanaging, Big Brother agency. Vote yes on 4 and no on 5.

Candidates: I'm not going to go into much on candidates. I got sick a long time ago of making compromises, picking the lesser of two evils, etc. So I'll only mention the libertarian candidate for governor, Bill Peirce. A highly educated economist, Peirce is the best bet for economy improvement, and is dedicated to ending eminent domain abuse. If you're into that, then go for it. In any case, you can make a stand against Blackwell's attempts to squash third parties.

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