Yesterday I opened the “2014 State Ballot Information Booklet” from the state of Colorado.  One ballot measure stood out.  Today we will begin an examination of Colorado’s “Amendment 67, Definition of Person and Child.  Amendment 67 proposes amending the Colorado Constitution to:  specify that the terms “person” and “child” in the Colorado Criminal Code and the state wrongful death statutes include unborn human beings.”  You can anticipate that this interpretation will take several Posts to discuss.  Relevant major topics will be emphasized in bold.  As we unfold this social issue you will begin to grasp the dynamics of rational, intentional and purposeful social change, using the values and principles of social sustainability.  

The historic and existent relationship between government and citizens individually and collectively.  In a society that has chosen to move toward social stability and later sustainability, the right of self-determination (Post #17, 20) is fundamental to the responsible symbiosis of citizen-governmental interaction.  (The connection is self-determination and responsibility.)  Because the paternalism of the English monarchy toward the colonies, the new democracy of the United States assumed that this was the appropriate relationship between a democratic government and citizens.  The assumption of that dependent relationship was very appropriate and workable for the nation and the populace, at the time.  But given the immense educational, cultural and social evolution that western democratic citizens have experienced, that dependent-fatherly-dominating relationship is insufficient to lead the public into a more responsible partnership.  It is a reactive, rather than being proactive to lead and prepare citizens for responsible decision-making for public and personal issues.  

This Amendment, if approved by the public, would again reinforce the dependency relationship between government and individuals.  If approved, the public would be saying that citizens as individuals are virtually incapable of making responsible decisions concerning sex education, birth control, public education of all of the facets of this topic, pregnancy and abortion, responsible parenting and childcare.  I would have to agree with that statement as the topic is generally understood by citizens today.  Their agreement with this Amendment would say to me that they are simply ignorant and do not have the information available to make the decision; and, that the dependent, paternal father-child relationship between government and citizens has become an enculturated and internalized false assumption.