Proposition 2. Now THERE’S a proposition that a lot of people will be voting on according to an emotional reaction. However, it really SHOULD be treated with the same amount of thought you would put into most other propositions you’ll be voting on this election season.

I know, I know… it’s hard to take the time to THINK about this issue when your distorted, Disney-like ideals spring to action at the sight of pro-Prop 2 ad images. You’re horrified. Disturbed, even. Those poor little chickies and piggy-wiggies! Oh, the horror! It’s easy to tell yourself that Alicia Silverstone and Hilary Duff actually know something about agriculture and food production when they desperately urge you to take action against California commercial food producers on a popular “Yes on Prop 2” ad. But the last time I checked, neither of their fathers are pig farmers or dairymen.

A lot of people pushing Prop 2 — and I’m not saying ALL – have no direct experience with agriculture, livestock and the practical means through which our food is efficiently produced, and they’ll often use visuals that are irrelevant to their cause. Some of you have probably seen the undercover video taken at the slaughterhouse out in Chino. You know, the one where the workers rammed a sick cow into a fence and then jabbed her in the eye with the handle end of a plastic oar? Even someone who knows livestock and has worked around it will readily say that sort of behavior is wrong and looked down upon, and you’d better believe that particular operation is not getting away with that.

The most ridiculous argument for improved production conditions is the one for swine. Anyone who knows the first thing about farrowing (birthing) litters of pigs understands that the farrowing stall cannot allow for the sow to “turn around or spread their limbs,” as our friend Hilary Duff puts it. In fact, that would be outright neglect of baby-waby piglet-wiglets. The average sow weighs between 450 and 500 pounds. You don’t have to think very long or hard about it to imagine the damage that can be done by a sow stepping on one of her three-pound piglets. If you find that you can’t imagine it, I’ll tell you: disfigurement, permanent damage to mobility, pain and — not uncommonly — death. With less room for the sow to move around, fewer pigs get squished by Momma. In order to avoid inhumane treatment of piglets, the comfort of the sow must be compromised. On top of that, pigs never live out their entire lives in farrowing stalls. Farrowing stalls are just for that – farrowing.

Let’s not overlook the following fact, either. If you make it more difficult for people in this country to produce your food, we will be forced to start bringing in meats from other countries — countries where you don’t have control over how farmers go about operating their production. Think about how sad it would make Alicia Silverstone if the meat coming into our country was not up to par with the standards of what we consider healthy enough for human consumption. Okay, maybe THAT wouldn’t make her sad, but if the animals in those countries weren’t treated like royalty, you’d better believe we’d be seeing her in another meat mistreatment commercial. Lastly, with our economy the way it is right now, do you really want your emotions to take over and be the cause of our food being one more hiked up expense? Because that’s what’ll happen if Ed Asner and Amy Smart have successfully wooed you into voting “Yes” on Prop 2.