Truly A New Low...
I get a lot of unsolicited text messages. Mostly, this is because I put my name on both my state and national "don't-call" list. Unfortunately, there's a loophole, because there is no such list for texts; so I usually just glance at strange texts, delete all the organizations I don't recognize, and let it go.
But over the last two days, I have gotten a couple of texts that really disturb me. The anonymous sender says that "left-wing organizations" are "collecting your data" for nefarious purposes. After this, s/he instructs me that if these people ask for my name, address, and signature, I should "decline to sign."
A second such text makes it sound even scarier: "out-of-town strangers" collecting the data for "left-wing extremist" groups. Again, there is the "decline to sign" instruction, and I am further urged to "protect yourself from fraud and theft!"
Are These People Serious?!
Now, I have signed quite a few petitions in my day. Most of them have been for ballot initiatives, which are a way for the people of a state to get a law passed when the state legislature won't do it. Things like Medicaid expansion, the legalization of recreational marijuana, and the reformation of highway funding are several things that have gotten done only because We the People of my state started a ballot initiative.
The way it works is that canvassers either go door-to-door, set up a table in a public space, or just approach people and ask them to sign their petition. They have to explain what the petition is for, and they are not allowed to accept any kind of donation or gift from those with whom they speak (I know this because the last petition I signed was on a chilly day, and I tried to buy the workers a coffee...which they politely refused). If they can get enough people to sign the petition by a given deadline, it becomes a ballot initiative and will be voted on in the next general election.
And yes, they do need your name and address, because they have to prove that all the signatures they get are from residents of the state. Only state residents are allowed to determine whether there is enough interest in an issue to put it on the next ballot.
Let me make this absolutely clear: Your identity cannot be stolen just because someone knows your name and address. And if your signature were another way for someone to defraud you, then signing your name on those touch screens at the store or at the restaurant would be way more dangerous than signing a piece of paper with lines all down the page.
So, What's Really Going On?
Funny you should ask.
There are two hot-button issues in my state right now: "school choice" (a.k.a. vouchers) and abortion. The GOP super-majority in our legislature is really on board with a near-total abortion ban, and they're practically drooling at the idea of defunding public schools and siphoning the money into vouchers that supposedly give parents a choice in the way their kids are educated. Private schools are supposedly better than public schools, with better curricula, better teachers, and safer environments, so hey! Instead of that run-down public school where the teachers are paid peanuts and the textbooks still call Myanmar "Burma" and the nerds get swirlied on a regular basis, a parent could use public money to send her little one to that fancy private academy where he will do so much better!
Except, those private schools can accept or reject whomever they want. A transfer student from a public school would still have to meet the private school's standards for academic performance and good behavior. Paid tuition or not, any kid who couldn't keep up his grades or stay out of trouble would be expelled.
Moreover, it might be a lot harder to get to and from a private school, especially in a rural area.
And lastly, those vouchers would make it impossible for public schools to improve. It's like giving someone else a transfusion, but being expected to put in a full day's work while doing so. It's crazy!
But the GOP love the idea. To gain support, they have focused on a bunch of non-issues, like "woke" ideology, trans- and homosexual infiltration, critical-race theory, "bad" books in school libraries, etc.
So, in defense of public schools, some (yes, left-wing) groups have gotten together and are now circulating a petition to keep public schools funded. If it makes it to the November ballot, the entire state gets to finally decide the issue for themselves.
The same thing is happening with the abortion ban. The petition is circulating, and if it gets enough signatures, we will decide in November whether to allow a woman to choose to abort if she needs to, or if she is too young, or if her life is at stake, or if it's a rape/incest/abuse case...and also, whether that woman and anyone who helps her is a criminal.
Now, the anti-choice crowd - the Right to Lifers, the conservative religious groups, and so forth - are up in arms about abortion. The only thing they think about is "saving the unborn." That would be all fine and good if that were really the case. But most abortions are done within the first trimester; the embryo isn't viable--it cannot survive outside the womb. One of the reasons that the six-week ban is so stupid is that many women wouldn't even know they were pregnant yet! (A woman can miss a period for several reasons other than pregnancy; stress, medication, and malnutrition can all affect a woman's cycle.)
And once a pregnancy reaches the viability stage, the only reason an abortion is done is because of a fatal birth defect, such as a missing vital organ, or because the life of the mother is in danger. Needless to say, such late-term abortions are very rare, and only a few doctors are trained to perform them.
Besides which, no woman is getting an abortion on a whim. It's a tough choice, and any woman in that position has already thought seriously about what to do. It should be her choice, not the government's or that of some misguided religious group.
However...
....The right-wing coalition is perfectly free to oppose these initiatives. And they might just win.
But they aren't being honest about it in those "decline to sign" messages. When they, or anyone allied with them, conceal their true position by fear-mongering ("They're stealing your data!") about things that have nothing to do with the real issues (vouchers and abortion), then they have lost the moral high ground. They are, in fact lying to you. And I really, really hate liars!
Do You Feel Like I Do?
Then spread the word. If you get deceptive "decline to sign" texts, or you have friends who have gotten them, then set the record straight.
Because it's not data collection those mystery texters are afraid of; it's your taking a stand in favor of something they don't like. So let's go scare the shit out of them, shall we?
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