Wednesday, September 24, 2008

"Hands Off Our Constitution" Rally in Hartford Connecticut

Theatre, Singing, Speeches Calling All People to:

Vote NO on the Constitutional Convention Question November 4th

Background:

The Rights of Women, African-Americans, Latinos, Immigrants, People Living in Poverty, Public Employees, Ex-Offenders, Transgender, Bisexual, Lesbian, and Gay people would likely All be Under Attack if Ballot Initiatives come to Connecticut.

A Partial List of What’s At Stake Under Ballot Initiatives:

* Abortion Rights
* Emergency Contraception for Rape Victims
* Affirmative Action
* Anti-Poverty Programs
* Judicial Discretion in Sentencing
* Public Education Funding
* Comprehensive Sex Education
* Human Rights to Housing & Employment for Transgender people
* Healthcare, Social Services, & College Assistance for Immigrants
* Healthcare & Retirement Benefits of Public Servants
* Same-Sex Marriage and Civil Unions
* Euthanasia

September 28, 2008

South Side of State Capitol overlooking Capitol Avenue
Sunday, September 28, 2008
1:30 PM Gather
2:00 PM Kick-off
(please allow 30 minutes to park and walk from side streets)

1 comment:

Evan Ravitz said...

I'm sorry that gays have been targeted by intolerant abusers of the initiative process. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater!

Here in Colorado, my gay friend Jared Polis won the Democratic primary forCongress (http://polisforcongress.com), and was the single greatest force turning Colorado from "red" to "blue" since 2000. He's used his wealth to fund Dem campaigns, but also to sponsor 2 very successful ballot initiatives, Colorado Amendments 23 (raising school funding) and 41 (preventing lobbyists from giving "gifts" to legislators). He joined in sponsoring 37, which mandates renewables for electric companies.

Ballot initiatives are the origin of most reforms, such as women's suffrage (passed in 13 states before Congress went along), direct election of Senators (in 4 states), publicly financed elections (passed by initiative in 6 of 7 states with them), medical marijuana (in 8 of 13 states) and increasing minimum wages (in all 6 states that tried in 2006). See http://Vote.org/initiatives for more examples and references. The media have seized on the problem initiatives. They generally kiss up to politicians.

Jared also supports NATIONAL ballot initiatives, with which we could stop the Feds from abridging medical marijuana rights, stop illegal wars, torture, etc., and get national health care, which Congress has dithered over since the '40s, while all other 1st world countries got it.

Voters on initiatives need what legislators get: public hearings, expert testimony, amendments, reports, etc. The best project for better and national initiatives is the National Initiative for Democracy, led by former Sen. Mike Gravel: http://Vote.org.

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