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All My Rage
At No Kings III in Boston, a seven-year-old girl wearing monarch butterfly wings wrote a pledge for democracy on our We the Powerful mural. Her protest sign, featuring a brilliantly orange butterfly and the words the only monarch we need, leaned against her leg as she carefully wrote out in blocky, rainbow letters: I promise to always believe women. We the People of the United States are unequivocally failing that little girl.
Vote Informed: Ballot Question 5
Ballot Question #5 “Change State Tax Revenue Limit” is one of the more confusing ballot questions. It is hard to read “method of calculating” and “Section 2BBBBBB of Chapter 29” and understand what this ballot question is fundamentally: an attempt to cut taxes. A no vote makes no changes to state taxes or revenue. A yes vote will cause more frequent occurrences of collected state revenue being given directly to taxpayers. I will break down the meaning of the question, the history behind it, and the likely effects.
To Jungle or Not to Jungle: A Tale of Two Primary Systems
This November, Question #3 will offer voters the option to eliminate party primaries in Massachusetts. Here is where members of the Mass 50501 Newsletter Team fall on the issue.
Vote Informed: An Explainer on Ballot Question 9
This November, Massachusetts voters will be asked to weigh in on whether Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024—An Act Modernizing Firearms Law—should remain on the books. I will be up-front: this piece is going to read as an argument for repeal—in this case, a “no” vote on ballot question 9. However, my point in writing this piece is less to make an argument why you should vote a particular way, and more that in order to vote on whether to keep or repeal a law, we should make sure we read and understand what is actually contained within the text of the legislation.
Time To Cut The Pendulum
Every time a party makes gains on potentially making a difference their way, the other party is elected, un-does everything, and we all just end up worse off than we started. This system doesn't work for anyone. That's why everyone is protesting in their own way, unless the pendulum is swinging their way today. Our political system is a duopoly of intentional dysfunction.