Respect Will of The People on Question 4

by Joshua Mintzer

On Election Day, we in the commonwealth voted on an important issue after a highly contentious campaign cycle.

One side was replete with facts, positive vision for the future, logic, and stood as a beacon for increasing our liberty and economic opportunity. The other was filled with the worst sort of fear-based propaganda, cronyism, and authoritarian racism.

I am, of course, speaking about Question 4. To Beacon Hill, who took large sums of money from the alcohol, gambling, and pharmaceutical industries in order to try and fight this, who demonized minorities and hard-working, everyday people, and who turned voters off with their reefer-madness style agitprop: You have lost. Please respect the will of the people.

Your screed of “Protect the children!” is understandable, but a majority of parents with children under 18 voted yes. That’s because we believe we know better than the nanny state on Beacon Hill how to raise our children. How to keep them safe from tobacco and alcohol and cannabis until they are old enough to make their own decisions.

We are not your children; we are those you serve. Treat us as such. There is a reason why there are so many strictures and milestones in this law: You all have a terrible history of being bad-faith actors when it comes to legalization.

In 2008 and 2012, you attempted time and time again to sabotage the will of the people. If you want to work in good faith with us now, you will need to demonstrate your intentions.

Proceed at your own peril if you think you can simply “correct the mistake of the voting public.” After all, we voted for you all, didn’t we? And that’s a mistake we can easily correct as well.

Joshua Mintzer

Easthampton