this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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Friendly reminder that literally all legalization legislation and referendums have come through the Democratic party.
Biden already pledged support. He needs youth vote. There's literally no reason he wouldn't unless he was blocked by Republicans...
... Which he is.
Then why is one of his campaign promises written as: "As president he will decriminalize cannabis..."
Is his campaign promising things he doesn't have the power to do?
Yes this is literally par for the course for every single presidential campaign in history.
They promise what they'll do. They don't say try to do because that's been tested in marketing and certainty sounds better. Nevertheless it's not Biden's fault his agenda for what he's been voted into office on is being blocked by the opposition for poor reasons.
The question isn't why isn't Biden doing this, the issue is why are Republicans blocking it and why aren't you trying to convince them and their supporters?
If I can't believe any of the good campaign promises from biden because everyone lies, why should we take the scary campaign promises of republicans seriously?
It really leads to apathy in the voter base.
I'm really struggling to understand how you don't understand how this works. I have to conclude you're doing this in bad faith, given you implied your age is pretty high.
What part do I not understand?
That they aren't promises but goals. The Biden administration (and about every administration) works towards everything they say they'll do, how much they get done is determined by their majority and the willingness of the opposition to work with them.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/biden-promise-tracker/?ruling=true
Why use the word "promise" then? Is this Newspeak?
You've already been told this in an earlier reply by someone else.
President's aren't dictators, but they do have an amount of control of pushing for specific legislation, and the big "promises" are about trying to push this legislation.
Other promises can get stalled even if it's within the president's authority, like Biden's student debt relief was stalled by the Supreme Court.
I think the student relief is a good example of his team making an effort to keep the promise, rather than marijuana where they're barely trying.
When bidens relief was blocked, they immediately went back to the drawing board and started pushing alternative relief seriously.
He could be doing so much more for marijuana if he wanted to. Maybe he's saving it for right before the election which is terrible if so as there are lots of people being prosecuted and losing jobs today. Holding it for an election bump would further show his lack of sincerity in the promise or goal.
For the same reason we take Biden seriously: Legalization has progressed in universally all blue states, has it not?
Ergo, you answered your own question: promises often come to fruition.
So let's not risk letting Republican promises become reality, such as the promise of overturning Roe... Righhtttt?
It's more like he's bandwagoning something that now has popular support, without actually accomplishing much.
If he was serious he could reappoint DEA and other positions. Or an executive order to be challenged in court, etc.
Both Biden and his VP are on record as being anti marijuana before this last campaign. Biden as recently as when he was VP himself.
Bidens campaign has also fired or removed staffers for prior marijuana use.
Let's review this as I'm seeing goalpost moving and circular reasoning present, forgetting curiously strange double-standards in where one directs their attention:
Yes, it's pretty normal that popular things are often adopted by Presidential candidates. Kind of a no-brainer, don't you think? As I said before: (1) It's popular, and (2) Biden needs those youth voters. If it's so popular, why isn't Trump doing it? Why are Republicans so opposed? This finally begs the question: Why WOULDN'T Biden support it if he could? The answer is: there is no valid reason, which means Republicans are largely to blame while the workarounds are cumbersome and even run the risk of wasting time in front of the conservative Supreme Court, jeopordizing future attempts at decriminalization.
Politicians change minds. Legalization has become far more popular in recent times. At the end of the day, like it or not, Democrats and Biden are still the best pathways toward decriminalization. We certainly won't get anything out of Trump and Republicans (which it strikes me as odd you tried to downplay Trump above).
At this point if it looks quacks and acts like a duck it probably is one. To bystanders reading this thread, this user demonstrates all classic signs of a right-wing operative intending to gaslight, sow defeatism, and wedge-drive Democrats.
You will see more of this, sadly.
Because its not true. There's a Republican led bill introduced as recently as 2023.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5977
Well, I don't have a study backing me up, but in my experience, promising what you can't deliver often results in being called a liar.
I really don't know why "other candidates do it" would be an excuse. The whole pitch for voting for him is that he is supposed to be better than the other candidates. Seems like whataboutism.
I get what you're saying on principle, but the reality is that the world does not work like that. There's a reason populism is often a quick way to get to power, because you just promise whatever people want to hear so you could be elected. People don't vote based on logic, people vote based on emotion, which means people don't consider what is realistic, they consider what speaks to them.
A president can do almost NOTHING unilaterally. What they're promising you is what they'll support if it makes it to their desk. This is how checks and balances work... if you want to vote for someone who has sworn to be as shitty as possible because the guy who swore to do things you want can't just snap his fingers and make it happen, I guess nobody can stop you...
What you're finding is that the Democratic party is still interested in a functioning government where people don't just vote the party line like a borg - which results in more difficulty passing legislation. Unfortunately, "both sides same" isn't remotely accurate which you're finding out.
Memory of a goldfish.
Friendly reminder that mass incarceration was a bipartisan effort going back 4 decades.
Irrelevant. Read again, except this time more closely.
What matters is who changed first.
Democrats.
Democrats changed first.
As, in recent history preceding the great ideological shifts of party banners, they always do.
Nobody ask who co-sponsored the '94 Crime Bill.
How old are you?
A lot of us consider 1994 to be pretty recent but maybe not to the younger crowd
Does it really matter to the point being made?
Oh man, how far we've come in 30 years. I really am quite proud of the Democratic party.
On the flipside, Republicans have if anything continued to regress.
Idk? What point is being made? That Democrats took a modest aesthetic step toward fixing a problem they helped create? A problem that runs much deeper than the scheduling of drugs and a problem that destroyed entire communities of color?
I'm not interested in engaging in a debate with you, I just think it's important to recognize the depth of the issues being discussed and be skeptical of the accomplishments being touted during an election year.
Being the sole gateway through which Marijuana legalization has occurred is a, "modest aesthetic"?
LOL.
Of course you're not interested, because you know you've got nothing. And yet, here you are.
The legalization of cannabis in my state was brought about by activists, not Democratic Party members, and was passed by the public, which is made up of a majority of unaffiliated voters. Our Democratic governor vehemently opposed the measure. He did implement it when it passed, which Republican legislatures and governors have not done when similar bills were passed by the public in Republican states, though.
Curious of the state but I'm willing to bet money >90% of those activists were, conveniently, voting Democrats or of the Democratic coalition.
This is generally reflected in public polling: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/03/26/most-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana-for-medical-recreational-use/#:~:text=62%25%20of%20conservative%20and%20moderate,Democrats%20(84%25)%20say%20this.
Finally, conservatives are starting to come around but they're always behind the curve.
https://www.kiplinger.com/politics/red-states-embrace-marijuana-the-kiplinger-letter
Yeah but some white kid doesn't get to blaze it with their free unicorn pony so end of democracy over it we get!
I am lost at what you are trying to say here. Check the end of the sentence.
Phlubba might be referring to right wing youths who would hypothetically vote against Biden or not vote at all, cascading into a loss of US Democracy and eventually the fall of NATO and potentially democracy across the world as a whole. I don't think our situation is necessarily that bad, but it's definitely one of many possible futures.
What does this have to do with free unicorn ponies or the discussion at hand?
He's saying the only thing he ever says: having expectations of Democrats means you're a spoiled child.
Ah — correction — having unreasonable expectations of Democrats in the face of immovable majority opposition, suggests you're a spoiled child.
I meant exactly what I said. There is no correction needed.
Just because you falsely consider all criticism of Democrats to be unreasonable and all opposition to be immovable doesn't make it so.