In Legalizing Miss Daisy, my item on pigs' rights in Florida, I neglected to mention that pigs have state Constitutional rights in Florida—or rather, pregnant pigs will have state Constitutional rights as of 2008, thanks to an Initiative Petition adopted in the 2002 election.
Article X, § 21 of the Florida Constitution, bans “cruel and inhumane confinement of pigs [helpfully defined as 'any animal of the porcine species'] during pregnancy.” (Full text quoted below.) The initiative that produced this amendment was amazing. I have never been stopped so many times by so many passionate people who wanted my signature. On every occasion I refused, suggesting there were more important issues that we might be spending our time on. Most of the petition gatherers were politely incredulous at this reaction; only one or two were really rude about it.
Despite this example of voter silliness, on balance I actually think that the ballot initiative process has served the state of Florida well. For example, the voters have approved some environmental measures that might well have not gotten through a legislature in which well-funded businesses seem to have a lot of clout.
But the best example is the recent class size initiative.
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