Mark Schultz, Why Restricting the Right to Vote is Bad for our Land, Farms & Rural Communities

Posted October 3, 2012

Our Board Chair, Mark Schulz, is the Associate Director of Land Stewardship Project, one of TakeAction Minnesota’s organizational members. This blog is being reposted from their own blog, and can be found in it’s original format here. 

Recently, the Land Stewardship Project joined “Our Vote, Our Future,” a coalition of over 70 organizations working to oppose the voter restriction amendment to the state constitution that is to be put before Minnesota voters Nov. 6. Why is an organization whose mission is stewardship of the land and our communities speaking out on this issue?

There are several important reasons for taking this stand—as discussed by LSP’s State Policy Committee—which relate directly to the values and history of our organization, as well as simple common sense.

Basic issue of democracy — people have to have a say

A good deal of LSP’s work as an organization has centered around the basic issue of democracy — that people directly affected need to have a say in the decisions related to their lives. It’s a foundation of LSP’s approach that people, not major corporations or lobbyist insiders, need to have the most say in how public policy is shaped and executed. It is through democratic action that we will create a food and farming system that is answerable to people, not corporations.… Continue reading »