2017
November
09
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

November 09, 2017
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Yvonne Zipp
Features Editor

The voters have spoken. But does it matter?

That’s a question that’s coming up in an increasing number of states regarding ballot initiatives, a form of direct democracy in 24 states and the District of Columbia. And it’s being asked with remarkable regularity in the state of Maine.

On Tuesday, Maine voted 59 percent to 41 percent to become the first state to expand Medicaid – a move affecting 70,000 low-income residents. The next day, Gov. Paul LePage said he wouldn’t implement the expansion unless the Legislature agrees to fund it. (Since 2013, the Legislature has voted five times for the expansion – and Governor LePage has vetoed it five times.)

In 2016, Mainers voted to pass five of six initiatives on the ballot. Four have been overturned, altered, or delayed. Some of the issues: legalizing marijuana for those over age 21, raising the minimum wage, and increasing taxes on households that make more than $200,000. With the fourth – which would have made Maine the first state to implement ranked-choice voting – legislators tried a repeal, but, after widespread outrage, decided in a special session in October to delay implementation until 2021.

“This isn’t how democracy works,” Justine Sarver, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, told The Atlantic. “You don’t get to pick and choose when you like a process and when you don’t.” 

Ms. Sarver is among those who say there is a trend of state officials either ignoring or overriding the will of the people who elected them to office. 

We trust voters to decide who represents them, these experts say. Shouldn’t we also trust them to decide issues that affect their lives? 

Here are our five stories of the day, designed to show equality, perseverance, and empowerment.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Not every Democrat was giddy after Tuesday night's wins. To really take back the House, Rep. Cheri Bustos told congressional correspondent Francine Kiefer, Democrats will have to show up in areas that they have largely ignored and stay focused on an economic message.

Russia and the US both want to see North Korea’s nuclear ambitions constrained – what should be common ground. But the Kremlin views President Trump’s hard line on Pyongyang as fruitless and is skeptical about his recent, more diplomatic tone.

SOURCE:

United Nations, BACI, MIT Observatory for Economic Complexity

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Karen Norris/Staff
Alfredo Sosa/Staff
In September, a John Adams High School freshman English class took part in a phone-based activity in South Bend, Ind. A counseling team visits with students to explain the course requirements and diploma options designed to prepare them for both college and careers.

What if "underserved" students were automatically enrolled in challenging courses? Would they wash out or would they walk onto college campuses better prepared?

SOURCE:

"Paper Thin? Why All High School Diplomas Are Not Created Equal," Alliance for Excellent Education

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff
Steve Gettle/Minden Pictures/Newscom
A pair of sandhill cranes tends a nest at Kensington Metropark in Milford, Mich. After almost entirely disappearing from Michigan, the sandhill crane is returning to the state, much to the delight of bird lovers – and the dismay of local farmers.

When threatened species rebound, should hunters be allowed to control their population growth? In Michigan, environmentalists and bird lovers are thrilled that the sandhill crane is flourishing, but farmers say hunting is needed to keep flocks from decimating crops.

Madam C.J. Walker launched her beauty empire for black women in the early 20th century, becoming a self-made millionaire and philanthropist. But the rest of the cosmetics industry has been slow to embrace a more inclusive sense of beauty – until now.

SOURCE:

Fenty

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

The Monitor's View

AP Photo
A man walks past street art in the coastal town of Asilah, Morocco Oct. 13.

Other than small efforts by a few states to better regulate guns, does the United States have a grand strategy to end mass shootings? Given recent statistics, the lack of one seems odd.

Two of the worst mass killings – in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and Las Vegas – took place in the past two months. They have helped make 2017 the deadliest year for such tragedies. Over the past five years, the US has experienced four of its five most lethal mass shootings.

After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the US created a comprehensive strategy to counter terrorists. But that national effort has mainly worked overseas. Inside the US, “lone wolf” killers inspired by radical Islam, such as those responsible for the shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., in 2015 and Orlando, Fla., in 2016, have been difficult to detect ahead of time. It’s also been difficult to identify non-Muslims, who, motivated by racism, revenge, or anti-Islam bigotry, have planned attacks, and prevent them from carrying them out. 

No matter what the motive, mass shootings are mass shootings. And if rapid-fire guns are not going to be curtailed anytime soon, Americans can at least awaken to the profound need for multifaceted ways to prevent individuals from conducting wholesale killing.

A good example of a country that has experienced a shift in public attitudes is Morocco. After a series of terrorist attacks in Casablanca that killed 45 in 2003, the North African nation launched a holistic and proactive approach aimed at reaching deep into society to avert further attacks. A US State Department report last July praised Morocco for its multidimensional strategy, “which places at the top of its priorities the objectives of economic and human development, vigilant security measures, as well as regional and international cooperation.”

Morocco has made social reforms, such as granting rights to women in hopes they might better prevent radicalization. It made economic reforms aimed at its poorest regions in order to reach marginalized youth. It encouraged Muslim preachers to promote a peaceful version of Islam. It beefed up security agencies to provide community-based policing and better track individuals supporting the Islamic State group. And if radicalized Moroccans are captured, the government tries to deradicalize them and reintegrate them into society.

Morocco is now considered a “leader in the battle of ideas taking place in the Muslim world,” according to an article in Foreign Affairs magazine last year, and in forging “a more inclusive society.”

Perhaps it is time for the US, with its sad history of large-scale shootings, to become a leader in how to end them. The first step is a public awakening, driven by a desire to reach individuals prone to kill – before they act. The statistics on gun deaths point to such a need.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

Sunday, Nov. 12, is this year’s International Day of the Bible. What a welcome invitation to all to discover the Bible’s universal healing message. The Old and New Testaments alike tell of men and women from every walk of life who discovered they have a direct relation to their spiritual creator, and show how understanding that can turn us from despair to hope and from brokenness to wholeness. God isn’t a far-off God, but ever-present divine Love, as today’s contributor proved when she had a healing of partial paralysis of her body. The Bible’s ideas are for everyone to put into practice and experience healing. Its healing message goes far beyond denominational loyalties. It’s about the liberating transformation open to each of us and to the world.


A message of love

Toby Melville/Reuters
A wooden cross with a poppy is installed in the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey in central London Nov. 9, in preparation for Armistice Day Nov. 11.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte, Jacob Tourcotte and Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks so much for joining us. Come back tomorrow. We're working on a story about how in the ruins of Puerto Rico, lies an opportunity to build back better.

More issues

2017
November
09
Thursday

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