The animal rights activists are at it again.
They have created a ballot initiative to "End Animal Cruelty" and are busy collecting signatures to get it on the 2024 ballot. Needless to say, none of us supports or condones "animal cruelty" which is why we already have laws prohibiting this behavior. This is simply another neo-Marxist effort to up-end long-standing cultural norms, historic values and traditions by universal mandate.
As always, the devil is in the details of IP3.
Initiative Petition 3 is a ballot initiative filed for the Oregon ballot in 2024. For those hearing about IP3 for the first time, this ballot initiative pretends to enhance animal rights by removing exemptions which allow legitimate hunting, fishing, farming, ranching, dairy, and poultry harvesting operations to exist in Oregon.
Oregon already has statutes which prohibit the negligent withholding of care and the intentional injury or unnecessary killing of animals. But, IP 3 has a very different focus. It is about more than ending animal cruelty, it is about forcing a new way of life. It will force the public, by criminal statute, into a new, never-imagined vegan-lifestyle.
The signature gathering effort now underway for IP 3 is disingenuous and dangerous. This is the unhinged art of democracy where one can sucker the public with kind sounding words on a ballot proposal while giving them the freedom to vote for their own unique form of governmental tyranny.
IP 3 will force people into the vegan lifestyle while simultaneously destroying Oregon’s cattle and dairy industries which each generate a billion dollars of economic activity to our rural economies.
Additionally, IP 3 would make hunting, fishing, most animal husbandry, and farm and ranch operations illegal. It would make it illegal to kill or injure any animal for any reason except self-defense. IP 3 removes animal abuse protections which commonly apply to hunters, fishers (including catch and release), trappers, wildlife managers, and those engaged in pest and vermin control and eradication efforts.
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IP 3 accomplishes all of this while draping this blatant destructionism under the fairy-tale magic of animal rights. IP3 criminalizes all aspects of herd, breed and livestock management which utilize any, and all, forms of artificial insemination.
It is difficult to cache out where this effort might go because it doesn't pursue any specific industry for destruction but rather criminalizes common consumption and harvesting activities.
This is a criminalization effort of a colossal scale. It is on par with prohibition. It is like puffed-up, misanthropy littered with feel-good phrases. Yet the goal is clearly the destruction of specific industries and lifestyles. The proposal also doesn’t deal with reality. It skims over the most crushing questions without giving a second thought, meaning the Democrat majority will legislate the details.
For example, when the state loses a couple of billion dollars’ worth of economic industry what happens to the living standards of those sacrificed to these new criminal standards? How will those people be employed? What happens to the land, commercial or industrial facilities, and infrastructure and investments that no longer generate revenue for bank loans or bond payments?
Where will enforcement dollars come from? What enforcement will be required, how many officers, what training will be required, do county jails have the capacity? Will I receive a 60-to-90-day sentence for aiding and abetting criminal activity after sneaking a quick-bite of black-market BBQ?
Additionally, what about rodent infestations and pest control within your community or neighborhood? How will livestock predation by wolves, coyotes or cougars be managed?
Be forewarned, there are no good answers for any of these questions. I'm guessing that pre-ordained talking points about the beauty of Biden’s economic successes, our sustainable future and the joy of meatless-meals will be substituted as symbols of our prosperity, material well-being and high moral standards.
This initiative is not about animal rights or preventing animal abuse. This is an attempt to force Oregonians to adopt a foreign lifestyle. If they still choose to consume meat they will be forced to rely on meat-like products grown in a lab or shipped in from out-of-state or overseas.
This effort of the unhinged left is keen on destroying our family farms as well as self-sufficient individuals and families that simply desire to hunt, fish, and live off their own land with some goats, cows and a flock of their own chickens.
This was the common dream of thousands of people who came to Oregon for new opportunities. People brought their families to Oregon for the beauty of the open-spaces and the wilderness experiences. They came as farmers and ranchers. They came as boaters, floaters and fishermen. They came as hunters, sportsmen and women, husbands and wives, kids and families, and they have prospered without being cruel or abusive. They have simply enjoyed raising, prepping and harvesting the sources of their own food.
This is a right that we as Oregonians must be willing to protect. We have the right to live self-sufficient lifestyles, to hunt and fish, to raise our own animals, and to try to lessen our reliance on the national food network especially in light of its recent frailties.
Additionally, learning to own and manage pets and livestock is one of the best teaching tools for kids while introducing individual responsibility and the value of private property. Many small farms get started with a handful of chicks. Managing, feeding and watering these small flocks allows property rights to be expressed in an informal way, with cost allocations, duties and profits which can be pursued and realized.
Livestock, when seen in this light can then be used to generate capital or credit. This in turn teaches people to use their property wisely so they can reap the rewards of their diligence. This is why 4H focuses on these forms of animal husbandry. These facets of life need to be encouraged, not outlawed like the proponents of IP 3 suggest.
The greatest impact stemming from the promotion of animal husbandry comes from the development of community, where individuals can express their preferences and talents within a network of buyers and sellers. This is easy to see, as not everyone will be raising rabbits, chicks, or cattle. The variety combined with the cost/time differentials will be expressed by different people in unique ways.
Thomas Sowell warns us to be aware of "mass media, mass politics, and massive government," because "the beliefs which drive a relatively small group of articulate people have great leverage in determining the course taken by a whole society."
IP 3 is another one of those efforts where the intelligentsia and their followers in the political arena purport benefits that are empty promises while the wholesale criminalization of farm, dairy, ranch, fisherman, hunters, food processors, restaurants and foodies, golf courses, sporting supply stores and tourism-based economies will bring long-term bitter consequences.
This issue is very important. Register to vote. Everybody invested in a rural or self-reliant lifestyle must be willing to cast their vote to protect it. Also, talk to people about why you choose to live a self-reliant lifestyle by farming, ranching, hunting, fishing, raising livestock or your backyard flock of chickens.
Also, you can join with these other organizations who are rallying against this ballot initiative:
• Oregon Cattlemen's Association,
• Oregon Diary Farmers Association,
• Oregon Farm Bureau,
• Oregon Hunters Association,
• Oregon Outfitters & Guide Association,
• Oregon Outdoor Council,
• Oregon Trappers Association
I would encourage you to be willing to share your thoughts on being less dependent on the national food network and understanding where our food comes from. Additionally, folks must understand that the locally produced grass-fed beef and free-range chickens that they enjoy will be outlawed in Oregon. Our local restaurants will no longer be able to source any Oregon raised beef, poultry, or fish, for their menus.
This is a message that resonates well with people from all walks of life and this is our message of liberty.
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Stand with me to defend families, parents and our children!
Your support is vital for Oregon's future!
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"The preservation of freedom is the protective reason
for limiting and decentralizing governmental power.
But there is also a constructive reason.
The great advances of civilization,
whether in architecture or painting,
in science or in literature,
in industry or agriculture,
have never come from centralized government."
–Economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
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