animal rights
January 2009 
Voting in California
Posted on Nov 3rd, 2008
by 
Jessica
Jessica
Tomorrow is election day.
I'm voting and I live in California, the land of many Propositions. There are so many important ones on the ballot, gay marriage, high-speed trains, hospitals, etc., but the one that is closest to my heart is Proposition 2.
This Proposition will ensure that farm animals are given enough space to lay down and extend their limbs. It will protect calves bred for veal (which is an incredibly cruel parctice), chickens pigs and has provisions for pregnant pigs. Right now, "calves are tethered by the neck and can barely move, pigs in severe confinement bite the metal bars of their crates, and hens get trapped and even impaled in their wire cages. We wouldn’t force our pets to live in filthy, cramped cages for their whole lives, and we shouldn’t force farm animals to endure such misery. All animals, including those raised for food, deserve humane treatment."
This Act is relatively weak, but it is a step in the right direction if we want to be a more humane society. Farmers will be given until 2015 to comply with the Act. Also, this Proposition can help small family farmers because many of them already have more humane practices than large factory farms.
Please check out the info here and read the Myth vs. Fact section.
So, I am voting Yes on Prop 2 and I'm asking my fellow Californians to reach out and do the same. Your vote can prevent unnecessary suffering and help increase health standards for humans too.
And a bit more...
Uncaged-YES on Prop 2
I'm voting and I live in California, the land of many Propositions. There are so many important ones on the ballot, gay marriage, high-speed trains, hospitals, etc., but the one that is closest to my heart is Proposition 2.
This Proposition will ensure that farm animals are given enough space to lay down and extend their limbs. It will protect calves bred for veal (which is an incredibly cruel parctice), chickens pigs and has provisions for pregnant pigs. Right now, "calves are tethered by the neck and can barely move, pigs in severe confinement bite the metal bars of their crates, and hens get trapped and even impaled in their wire cages. We wouldn’t force our pets to live in filthy, cramped cages for their whole lives, and we shouldn’t force farm animals to endure such misery. All animals, including those raised for food, deserve humane treatment."
This Act is relatively weak, but it is a step in the right direction if we want to be a more humane society. Farmers will be given until 2015 to comply with the Act. Also, this Proposition can help small family farmers because many of them already have more humane practices than large factory farms.
Please check out the info here and read the Myth vs. Fact section.
So, I am voting Yes on Prop 2 and I'm asking my fellow Californians to reach out and do the same. Your vote can prevent unnecessary suffering and help increase health standards for humans too.
And a bit more...
YES! on Prop 2 TV Commercial: "Shocking Video"
Access: Public
what a great post!
Awareness is required….if we all knew about veal who would eat it? Thank you for bringing it to your blog,and I love that you love….chickens,cows,horses,birds..etal..we are all connected…bless you
Thank you Liza & waterheart. Yes, knowing is such a big part of it. Education is important. I do find that a lot of people can be inspired just by eating great vegetarian food too.
Frankly, I don’t like this focus on improving exploitation which focuses more on farmer’s needs than on animal needs… farmers getting seven years to implement a tiny measure? I also hate this video. No pigs will be dancing because of this measure. The only people dancing are people who think meat-eating is fun. It scares me that the thing that turned me vegan is now being used by meat-eaters to advocate happy slaughter.
Luella, I hear you. And, I agree that no pigs will be dancing. But, I don’t think this measure was being put forward by a majority of meat eaters. However, the ad is designed to appeal to a mass audience, and most people in the US are meat eaters. The only way to bring change is to communicate with these people as well and sometimes we have to go step by step. This isn’t the last measure and it isn’t the last effort to change the way we treat animals. But, it moves our consciousness forward, ever so slightly, but slightly still. I think the only real and meaningful change comes from changes in consciousness, otherwise it’s all band aids. And, at least it’s action, something set into our legal system. It offers precedence.
And, while no one will be dancing, at the very least there will be less suffering. Surely, there will still be a lot of suffering. I am vegan and I’ve been vegetarian for 12 years. I want to see more and more people be vegetarian because I believe it is better for everyone, people and animals. I do feel your frustration and would love to know more about your ideas for change. It’s painful to know how much suffering happens, and will still happen even with this measure. The reason I supported Prop 2 is because I view it as a catalyst, progress for society. I think it means something that our legal system has laws indicating non-human life is valuable and should be treated with at least a modicum of dignity. It is incomplete, to be sure, but the seeds of compassion and awareness continue to grow. Just compare today with 15 years ago. Things are shifting.
Heh. I’m afraid I don’t know what the world was like 15 years ago as I was just four years old!
I’m not entirely sure whether or not I’d vote for a measure like Prop 2, but in any case the dialogue needs to change, and it needs to stop supporting those we’re trying to challenge. For example, Opera had a show about Prop 2 that glorified the proposition without ever mentioning vegetarianism, much less veganism. The problem is that Prop 2 is going to naturally lead to this kind of talk because of what it supports. So how do we change that discussion? I think we need to speak out as much as we can and mention the limitations of Prop 2 as more than a side note, whether we support it or not, because our ideals are greater than that. We need to model change as much as possible.
Anyway, thank you for your thoughtful response. For more analysis of this issue, I can recommend The Vegan Ideal blog and a post I made on a blog for class: No on Prop 2. Dani points out that those who will suffer under Prop 2 haven’t even been born yet to have their suffering “reduced.” We’ve just ensured that they will be because we don’t believe that veganism could be on the horizon. I even hear vegans saying that a vegan world is impossible, and I just don’t agree. I just want to focus on making a vegan world real. I know that’s something you do, and I thank you.
Namaste.
By the way, The Vegan Ideal posted some important new entries related to this today, particularly Cognitive Dissonance and Dr. Guillotin’s Reform. For me to even consider voting Prop 2 creates a huge cognitive dissonance. Anyway, the second of those posts shows some pretty powerful historical evidence against this kind of thing.