At the Massachusetts Libertarian Party State Committee meeting on October 16, the following endorsements were made:
Question 1: |
YES |
Question 2: |
no position |
Question 3: |
NO |
Question 4: |
no position |
Question 5: |
NO |
See below...
Question 1: Audit the Legislature.
The MALP recommends a YES on Question 1. The function of the Auditor is to provide oversight of how taxpayer money is being used. The Legislature’s expenditures should not be exempted from this oversight.
Question 2: End MCAS
The MALP takes no official position. There are sound arguments on both sides. Ideally there would be no MCAS, and schools would contract with families and accreditation boards to determine what are the requirements for a diploma. The MCAS should not be used to test students, but it can be a way to test school performance, and hold schools accountable. Public teacher unions oppose the MCAS because it is a way to measure their year-to-year performance, however imperfectly. The MCAS should not be a requirement for graduation, but it can be a useful test of public schools. With good arguments on both sides, your vote will depend on your priorities.
Question 3: Rideshare Unions
The MALP recommends NO on Question 3. This initiative would make rideshare services more expensive and less accessible, hitting citizens without their own vehicles as an option the hardest. It creates an entirely new category of labor law, and erects a new and expensive bureaucracy. It threatens to extend labor law to contract employees. It would create an unprecedented category of union that would be disruptive of commerce and innovation in the rideshare space.
Question 4: Legalization of Psychedelics
The MALP take no official position. People have a right to use psychedelics, and they have a right to seek the aid of experienced professionals in their therapeutic use. If psychedelics were judged by the same safety and efficacy standards as other medications for PTSD, or severe depression, they would already be in wide use. Furthermore, studies show that recreational use of psychedelics causes less individual and social harm per user than alcohol. However, this legislation, backed mostly by corporate interests, creates an overly expensive and intrusive bureaucratic regime for the taxing and licensing of clinics that seeks to pharmaceuticalize psychedelics. This is why Bay Staters For Natural Medicine, which is sponsoring their own, cleaner legislation, opposes Question 4. If passed, the door on a better legalization pathway would be closed. So, while the personal use and cultivation aspects of the initiative are good, for those without the space and means, the benefits of psychedelics would likely remain out of reach. With strong arguments on both sides, your vote will depend on your priorities.
Question 5: Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers
The MALP recommends NO on Question 5. Minimum wage laws always harm low skilled workers seeking to climb the economic ladder. Expanding the state minimum wage law to tipped workers does them no favors. The result is fewer servers, fewer restaurants, higher prices, and less opportunity.