this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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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?
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.
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
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.