Oregon progressives have officially gone full send. A ballot initiative called the PEACE Act — that's Initiative Petition 28, or IP28 for those keeping score — has collected over 120,000 petition signatures to put a measure on the November ballot that would effectively criminalize hunting, fishing, and raising livestock for food. In America. In 2026.
Yes, you read that correctly. They want to make it illegal to grow your own food.
The initiative works by expanding animal cruelty protections that currently apply to dogs and cats and extending them to all animals. Every single one. That means the same laws that prevent you from abusing your neighbor's poodle would suddenly apply to the deer in your crosshairs, the trout on your line, and the cattle in your pasture. The practical effect, as ZeroHedge reported, is potentially criminalizing hunting, fishing, and raising animals for food in one fell swoop.
The organizers needed 117,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. They blew past that number. Let that sink in for a moment — over 120,000 people in Oregon thought this was a good idea. Over 120,000 people looked at a petition that would gut rural life and said, "Yeah, sign me up."
Now here's where the math gets fun. According to national surveys, roughly 1% of the American population identifies as vegan and about 3% identify as vegetarian. So we're talking about a tiny, radical sliver of the population trying to impose their dietary religion on everybody else. This isn't democracy. This is the vegan version of Orwell.
The initiative is wrapped in the kind of language that makes suburban voters feel warm and fuzzy. It's framed as an effort to "end animal cruelty." Who could be against ending animal cruelty? That's the trick. They know nobody's going to vote "pro-cruelty," so they disguise a radical overhaul of food production and outdoor recreation as a simple compassion measure.
But let's talk about what this actually means for real people. Oregon has thousands of ranchers, farmers, and fishermen whose entire livelihoods depend on activities that IP28 would reclassify as criminal. We're not talking about some abstract policy debate in a Portland coffee shop. We're talking about families who've worked the land for generations suddenly being told their way of life is a crime.
Hunters who manage wildlife populations? Criminals. Commercial fishermen feeding their communities? Criminals. The rancher raising beef cattle on land his grandfather homesteaded? You guessed it — criminal.
This is the logical endpoint of the green movement, and everybody with a functioning brain saw it coming. They started with plastic straws. Then gas stoves. Then your car. Now they're coming for your fishing rod, your hunting rifle, and your farm. The progression was never subtle. We just weren't supposed to notice.
The PEACE Act is what happens when activist ideology meets ballot-initiative machinery in a state where Portland's population can overwhelm the rural counties that would actually bear the consequences. The people signing those petitions have probably never set foot on a working farm. They've never gutted a fish or field-dressed a deer. They buy their groceries at Whole Foods and assume food just appears on shelves through the power of good vibes.
Oregon voters will have the final say in November. If there's any justice left in the Beaver State, the ranchers, hunters, and fishermen will show up in numbers that make 120,000 signatures look like a rounding error. But don't count on Portland to help.