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Bear wrote >>
Digging further, it sounds as though this is specifically designed to preempt the Humane Society's state-by-state campaign to introduce more humane animal husbandry practices across the country. They're not fighting for free-range organic farming practices everywhere, but rather for something like California's Proposition 2, a measure that required that animals have enough space to stand up, turn around, and extend their legs. It passed by nearly a two-to-one margin.
I've also heard that the language is designed to sound so reasonable to the average voter that the Humane Society has concluded that it isn't worth waging a campaign against Issue 2 in Ohio.
HSUS is kind of the devil. And people is dumb.
I could tell you ALL ABOUT that first conclusion, but I've driven many a decent friend away with my yabbering about this organization.
To my second point, urban people do understand agriculture --animal, commodity or otherwise. There are exceptions, of course, and anyone who tries to understand it is my hero. Most are weirdly afraid of it based on a few well-trod lies, and organic marketers exploit this, if they're smart, almost as much as scary right-wing pastors go Boogeyman on gay people to the rural types. It's weird how much these two issues shed light on the great rural/urban divide.
(As someone who has shared a meal with both a Homosexual and a Factory Farmer in the last month, I am weirdly aware of the rampant misconceptions.)
Unfortunately for gay people, agriculture has a much stronger lobby. But both groups have little success in California on the ballot, so...
What am I talking about?
Oh.
This board is the lesser of two evils.
If it's not passed, then OHIOANS will piecemeal together our agricultural practices based on whatever "cruelty" of the day that HSUS wants to bring to the ballot box. And we, as misinformed SUCKERS, will pass it faster than we'll vote to protect marriage again or something. WE DO NOT KNOW ANY BETTER.
I shudder to think of Ohioans taking a VOTE on how many chickens should live in one cage. That is a nightmare situation for the industry, for Ohio's economy, and ultimately for the people who would vote on animal care issues based on their perceptions of what they see in cartoons or something. And they're probably voting with McNugget crumbs dangling from their T-shirts, but anyway.
I want industry people and vets and scientists determining how many chickens should live in a cage. Not Ohioans, which is what HSUS is going to try to do here regardless of what happens with Issue 2.
California's Prop 2 is my nightmare. And now that state is getting all their eggs from Mexico, which Americans cannot pass ballot measures for.
And sure, it sounds simple enough to pass a measure that requires that animals have enough space to stand up, turn around, and extend their legs. That sounds basic. That's why it passed by nearly a two-to-one margin -- BUT IT WAS VOTED THAT WAY BY PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO IDEA. It's a much more complicated issue than that.
It would be like if someone passed a law that said, "Everyone should have free health care." Sure, that sounds great. Sign me up. But the ramifications of that are beyond comprehension to voters.
And also, that analogy is wrong because chickens who free range die a lot more often then those who live in cages. (I am almost an expert at this on the grassroots level.)
So if SCIENCE WASN'T SURE that free health care would benefit all Americans, then the analogy would be more accurate.
This board is a preemptive move against HSUS, (although they'll be here regardless) and for good reason. I'm voting for Issue 2 twice.
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