Not a valid reason

The two ballot measures clogging the airwaves in the run-up to this November's election are generating no shortage of misleading arguments. The most ridiculous of them is the anti-50 message telling us we "shouldn't mess with our constitution." What is sometimes forgotten is that the Oregon constitution is not at all like the relatively pristine, high-minded United States constitution. As noted in a Corvallis Gazette-Times editorial earlier this week, our state constitution "is more of a legislature- and voter-approved dumping ground than the New Jersey salt marshes" and has been amended 24 times in the past eight years alone. If I'm not mistaken, something like 240 amendments have been tacked onto Oregon's constitution.

I also don't buy the argument that taxing a product seeing diminshing use—and that we all hope disappears—is unwise because then that funding also disappears. But do you realize how much healthcare money we will save by taxing cigarettes out of existence? And how many fewer kids will start smoking due to the expense?

Regardless, you might find a reason to vote against Measure 50. But the fact that it changes the Oregon constitution really shouldn't be one of them.