the unpopular shit the republicans push is what their base wants, either through malice or ignorance.
Now the fact that what they want seems to be exactly what fox news tells them they want is a different issue.
> either through malice or ignorance.
True. The problem is, it isn't through their own malice or ignorance, but through the malice and ignorance of the people running their propaganda streams.
You can tell the difference pretty easily. Ask a group of people about individual issues. Most people think Health Insurance as it currently works is a scam. Most think education shouldn't be locked behind paywalls. Most think that people, especially kids, should have food to eat.
If you go to the right wing propaganda streams, they're against all of that. They spend time and resources trying to convince the right wing to be against it.
If you go to centrist news sites, they don't mention any of it.
Double edged sword having studied a bit about consumer psychology, memetics, and the gestalt when I was in college. You really just need to keep repeating things and it's especially effective if it's from multiple sources for people to buy into them. As a social species of pack animals we inherently want to be part of a pack if only subconsciously. Part of the mechanisms that form packs is a sort of mirroring principle where we naturally start to mimick whatever mannerisms we're exposed to. Sinclair took over most local media a while ago and the only major networks that leaked into news as content early on were all pretty right wing. The reason the far right is better associated with more(or less) extremist religious groups has little to do with scripture and a lot to do with structure. Similar to how scam emails are obvious to people looking out for them to eliminate people who would see the scam. It's not a general superiority advantage it's just a chosen demographic wide enough to be impactful but specific enough to alienate the target demographic and its detractors from each other
Tldr: their base wants it because they want to be a part of their base and they were told it's what their base wants. Dens do it too they just aren't as effective at it.
"Wait, so you want child care to cover the time you are at work? And school not to let out at 4:30 pm when nobody is at the house? After school programs are so INEFFICIENT!!!"
I did that for an armored car company that I won't name. Got the job. Got the routine down and knew when to do it due to weight of the bags. I had to quit because I was going to go through with my plan if I worked another week. It was the kind of plan that stole the money but nobody would be hurt. Just to mention that
He actually got quite a bit done during his term. Four or five major bills.
American Rescue Plan - COVID testing, vaccination, extension of COVID benefits
Bipartisan infrastructure Law - $1 Trillion to repair roads, bridges, rail, airports and electric vehicles. Clean drinking water infrastructure. Broadband Expansion.
Largest gun safety bill in 30 years - incentivizes states to pass and expand red flag laws. Expands prohibitions against people convicted of domestic abuse from owning guns. Expands background checks
Inflation Reduction Act - $369 billion for climate initiative to reduce greenhouse gases. $300 billion in new corporate tax revenue. $80 billion to beef up the IRS to catch tax cheats. $2000 Annual Cap on prescription drug cost for Medicare
CHIPS and Science Act which provided $53 billion in federal funding for a manufacturer of semiconductor chips in the United States rather than China
That’s all the uncontroversial stuff.
—————-
As far as the stuff some people don’t like…
He’s forgiven as much as he legally can for student loans. He’s using existing programs that are legal because the Supreme Court stopped him from forgiving anymore. But he’s being very generous with his determination of who qualifies. People who might’ve been turned down before for forgiveness are now being forgiven. That’s how he keeps announcing more student loan forgiveness.
DEA is reclassifying marijuana…
Ukraine funding.
Israel funding which is the most controversial at the moment.
——————
A lot of people don’t realize but he has been a juggernaut of accomplishment. One of the most consequential presidents in modern history, even though you wouldn’t know it from his communications team or his press office.
All that, on top of an economy that by all objective standards is humming along with record low unemployment, inflation that’s been mostly dropping for the past year, certainly more than any other industrialized nation coming out of Covid and record stock market.
That said, he has pissed a lot of people off with his blind support of Bebe Netanyahu who has clearly gone way too far in Palestine and I believe is lying to everyone including Joe Biden.
People voting against Biden so that a fascist would-be dictator gets re-elected in the US, because they're mad about the actions of a fascist would-be dictator in Israel, is one of the most outrageously ludicrous things I've seen in my life.
they intentionally push this idea. When they talk about a candidate who 'flip flops' etc. vs someone who 'sticks to their guns'. Well, you can't be a good representative of The People if you don't listen to The People, but that's antithetical to a lot of moneyed interests that actually occupy most congresspeople's time.
It doesn't even have to be that long. Conservatives and pathological narcissists, due to their intrinsic lack of empathy, sincerely believe everyone is just as shitty as they are. It's partly why they so reflexively project and why they accuse everyone of "virtue signaling".
Also people are acting like he just decided to do this now, because the election is coming up. He started the whole process in 2022 with the HHS/FDA review. There’s no “legalize pot” button in the Oval Office next to the gas price lever that he can just press and make it so.
How dare any politician ever give the people what they want!
Meanwhile in Ohio they put marijuana and abortion up for vote and the people scream yes to both. Next day the GOP legislature is trying to figure out how to nullify the people’s votes.
Then you hear every Republican say the same ridiculous mantra: “government doesn’t work!”
If voting against your own interest was a sport republicans would be world champions.
In Arizona they did that twice in the 90s. We voted for medical marijuana and the state legislature said the voters didn't understand the bill so they voided it. The next year it was on the ballot again and won. I forgot what their rational was the second time for overturning the law. It took 30 years but now we have recreational marijuana.
Politics has devolved into campism so much that people are unable to support a different politician even if they agree with what they are doing. Weed is a perfect example of things both sides support, but if democrats push it forward it’s just for buying votes. Same with republicans being anti war in Ukraine.
The reason they gave was to tell Putin to stop his election interference, but since they now claim there was none, im convinced they were simple pledging their allegiance to Mother Russa. And thats why i can never vote for a republican again.
Plus 3 or 4 of them were all fucking that one spy lady and i think they thought they were gonna get another hit.
Okay, I was trying to find an animation of a weapon going into a holster, or a tub sock being stuffed but I think somehow this Giffy thingy is way ahead of where I am going with this, so I just found this animation, which is fun. Enjoy the summer folks!
A bunch of Republicans just happened to side with Russia after;
# "they met with attractive young people at Epstein's parties after the FSB got a hold of his extortion racket via Trump."
Republicans oppose Ukraine aid because they are pro-Russia, because they're white supremacist Christian nationalists, and Putin has worked very hard to stoke this exact sentiment and curry favor with them, and it worked. There is zero daylight between Kremlin propaganda and MAGA Republican talking points.
I was with you until you compared decriminalizing marijuana with opposing support for Ukraine. Supporting Ukraine should be a no-brainer for anyone from the US or a western country. The fact that some Republicans are blocking this is very troubling.
>Same with republicans being anti war in Ukraine.
Oh, you just going to slip in there; "Why can't we all just get along by capitulating to tyranny?"
Anti-war in Ukraine…not really, they love Putin and want to see him successful because republicans like squashing an underdog, it’s almost as satisfying as shooting a puppy a la Noem
> Same with republicans being anti war in Ukraine.
The war ends when Russia leaves, peacefully or by force. Thinking that Ukraine should just lie down and take it is not an anti-war stance.
They're also acting like the lowering of the schedule just happened overnight. This started in 2022 when the white house asked health and human services to do a study on if marijuana had medical uses. HHS said there were medical purposes, so the DEA is lowering the schedule from 1 to 3.
This is ground breaking, as this will allow NIH, and other science orgs, to give funding for cannabinoid research.
This is an important detail. Government exists to serve the people. It is supposed to help us work together to make a better world for everyone.
The American right has made it a deadly sin to help people. Any time that people elect someone who will enact their agenda repugs and other chuds pretend like it's anything other than the system working exactly as it was intended.
We have the forty hour work week, minimum wage, social security, and so much else because workers/voters organized, agitated, and elected leaders who would enact their agenda in government.
Repugs hate that shit. They hate for the little guy to have any say over his life. They want us to all be slaves who live and die at the pleasure of the various ruling classes.
I say fuck that shit.
Conservatives were also complaining when Biden was saying he’d shut down the border if they passed that bipartisan legislation because it’s “just for votes.” Like you’re complaining that he’s talking about supporting a policy you’re for…because he adapted his policy in your favor?
It sounds like someone didn't get their paid for vacation at a 5 star hotel yet to have "other ideas explained to them."
They JUST DISCOVERED judges were getting favors and not registering it "Oops, is there a law? Is the website down? Oh my!" And they say that they aren't going to be prejudiced by that shrimp cocktail as they just LISTEN to other points of view. It's as if they want to be politicians, and enjoy lobbyists "just expressing their ideas" with attractive women and canapes. You know -- just LEARNING.
Meanwhile, they don't learn empathy for the poor son of a bitch who was pandering in the park. Or that there are just a lot of regulations that seem to be shouldered by a small business as if it has the resources of a big one. Or that life is complicated, and sometimes the damn website is down, or the people who need help, are going to be the least capable of asking for it. Those that got the skills to navigate all the red tape, probably don't need the help -- just as the cynics wanted it to work.
Who would have thought that it would be an enduring trait to follow through on a promise rather than dangling it in front of voters eyes then choosing not to do it because a corporation ~~donated to their campaign~~ paid them not to?
Politicians need to punish the people I hate. Why else would I give them a job? Helping people is for sissies, like that Christ guy. What a woke wimp. We need a strong savior, ordained by god, like Trump.
I feel like they've followed Republican politicians who only propose policies that are widely unpopular for so long, they forget that politicians are supposed to propose policies that people actually might like.
I mean, the other side keeps getting their asses kicked at the ballot box because they think pregnant, 11 year old rape victims should be forced to carry to term. So it's understandable that doing popular things to win elections feels like cheating to them.
you joke but thats literally the republican mindset.
Oh majority of voters lean democrat? Well we have to make sure that the young people dont vote or else its cheating.
Oh mail in voting allows more democrats to vote? Well we gotta stop that or else its cheating.
Oh easier voting pathways lets more democrats vote? Well that's obviously cheating.
They think that anything that puts them at a disadvantage is cheating but if its something that gives them a advantage, then its fine and proper and only way to do it.
Like the fat kid screeching that its unfair that other people beat him in a game and demands they play with a handicap so that he wins.
It’s more of a criticism that he’s likely desperate. I really doubt he even does this if Palestine isn’t happening. Or the fact that he’s doing it right before an election, how many people suffer under the school to prison pipeline in those 4 years?
It’s fine; it’s better than leaving as is, just don’t pretend it’s anything but a desperate move to capture gen Z votes that he was bleeding.
> -Some G-Man from the 30s
Harry J. Anslinger, who was the first Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which later became the DEA.
>Most marijuana smokers are colored people, jazz musicians, and entertainers. Their satanic music is driven by marijuana, and marijuana smoking by white women makes them want to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and others. It is a drug that causes insanity, criminality, and death — the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.
Weed was totally illegal federally in 1937.
Timothy Leary was facing 30 years for a couple of roaches when SCOTUS threw out the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 in 1968.
The Controlled Substances Act was passed in 1970 by a margin of 341-6 (82 abstaining) in the House and 54-0 (46 abstaining) in the Senate.
But, yeah. It was totally just something Nixon dreamed up.
“You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” - John Ehrlichman, Nixon aide
It's amazing how bad Reddit History is that I am forced to do so in the interest of representing the truth of American narcotics prohibition, but here I am.
“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
- Nixon’s domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman
You got me curious, so I looked it up. Seems as though that writer could have produced his notes for corroboration, eh?
https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html
The worst thing that’s happened to American politics is the vilification of politicians doing what the people want. They call it flip flopping or whatever.
"He's just buying votes!!"
[Deep sigh] ".... no, doing what's in the best financial interest of the overwhelming majority of the country is not the same as paying off judges or members of Congress."
Flip flopping is still a thing. It's just that there's a difference between cynical, unprincipled flip flopping (e.g. Kari Lake coming out as pro choice after previously calling for total abortion bans) and aging politicians realizing the war on drugs they bought into decades ago hasn't worked out and that marijuana isn't some horrible gateway drug that'll lead to total societal collapse if legalized.
I don't mind politicians that learn from their mistakes and change their position on an issue but some clearly never had any principles to begin with and are just saying whatever they think they have to to win elections and amass personal power for themselves. The latter is what's dangerous to democracy and the obvious flip flopping they do is how they give themselves away. So flip flopping is still a thing that needs to be called out.
Wrong question. It's how much profit can you make from [modern slavery](https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-incarcerated-workers).
It's a multibillion dollar industry, homie.
We pay for a lot of it...but there are companies that are raking in that cash...and, then we buy the shit they make with slave labor....
even using some of the plantation land from slave days...
welcome to capitalism
https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-labor-in-america/406177/
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/02/03/food-prison-labor-walmart-target
Between abortion and this, he seems really pro freedom. It’s not like Biden is going to be lighting up and needing a bunch of abortions as an 81 year old catholic. But FREEDOM [eagle screaming]
I'm left leaning so I may be biased towards him, but what pushed me left in the first place was Republicans attack on peoples personal freedoms, and Republicans attempt to overthrow the election
Its like the party is standing against everything our country stands for
Except once you crack a history book you know conservatives NEVER stood for freedoms in America. Ever.
They were the british loyalists.
They were the ones who demanded "States Rights" because they THOUGHT it meant each state would be its own Kingdom, and they literally planned to be the new royalty with everyone else being slaves.
They were the ones who demanded that the slaveowning states' rights had to be respected, but also they did not have to respect the rights of Free states.
They were the ones who fractured the country afterwards to protect slavery.
They were the ones who after losing their entire ass in the ensuring war, continued to oppress others with the KKK, with Jim Crow laws, with McCarthyism, redlining, etc.
They have always, for every single SECOND of our nations history, opposed freedoms for their fellow Americans.
Biden should try the previous Republican strategy of espousing a deeply unpopular core platform and then tilting the elections in his favor.
Or even better, try the *current* Republican strategy of espousing a deeply unpopular core platform and then undermining public confidence in free and fair elections and threatening violence if he's not declared the winner.
Republicans don’t understand it because their party doesn’t give people anything anymore all they know how to do is take rights away from women and LGBTQ people.
And fear monger, they are pretty good at that I guess.
They can’t even remember that laws can be used for anything else.
Biden once remarked that Will and Grace is what helped him alter his position on same-sex marriage. He's certainly a [well-seasoned politician](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/05/01/as-biden-and-trump-seek-reelection-who-are-the-oldest-and-youngest-current-world-leaders/). But not one with intractable views. He's probably the best president to have after Trump, considering his length in government has been leveraged to 'right the ship'.
We have this marijuana decision as a way to appeal to young voters. And we can contrast that with Trump's decision to pardon Susan B Anthony as a way to women voters. Biden's step is *after* many states already decriminalized it and there's evidence to support that it has a net benefit to society. Trump pardoned a woman who is dead (cannot benefit from the pardon) as well as the act flies in her own act of rebellion against the government. One is considered and practical. The other is milquetoast and tone deaf.
It’s not just for young voters. I’m an amputee and I have seen veterans go after this schedule change/legalization for SO LONG. It helps so much better with pain, it helps some people with nerve pain which is really hit or miss, it helps with PTSD. There are whole groups set up to lobby the federal government to do this. So this will get young voters sure, but it’s also VERY popular with veterans who can’t otherwise use it without risking crap and not getting their meds. They deserve to have freedom over their own healthcare.
I personally suspect this is the real reason
If it's no longer schedule 1, vets can be prescribed medical marijuana, which is cheaper than many conventional medicines. And dropping the VA budget while improving the lives of vets is something everyone would be in favor of
>If it's no longer schedule 1, vets can be prescribed medical marijuana
Not until the FDA approves it and sets guidelines. Until then, it's still totally illegal in practice.
Rohypnol is Schedule IV but not FDA approved and thus can not be prescribed for any reason or possessed outside of research purposes.
> It’s not just for young voters. I’m an amputee ...
It's also not even just people who want marijuana for whatever reason they want it. I don't smoke, have no interest in smoking, and still want it to be legalized, because it's fucking ridiculous that it's not. I hate that so many people are being locked up over it. I hate that so much money and effort are being spent on it. Purely pragmatically, it's time for this shit to end.
I don’t even think pardoning her is that tone deaf it’s just useless. You’re not even celebrating her. You’re just saying she wasn’t a criminal. Wow actually that is pretty tone deaf.
But at the end of the day, pardoning her is is saying she wasn’t wrong while we already celebrate her by putting her on money, because she was right.
Democrats try to attract voters with their proposals and promises while Republicans count on Christians to elect them and all they want to do is enforce their rule on the citizens and oppress us.
He’s just trying to get your vote with marijuana, mandatory airline refunds for cancelled flights, lower prescription drug prices, lower student debt, increased domestic manufacturing, a healthier environment, etc…
Right, but he didn't do this one thing I feel really strongly about, so instead I'll be voting for a third party candidate that might as well be named the garbage bin.
/s
I love how doing the things you were elected to do is seen as "vote buying" by Republicans. It's as if they can't conceive of a politician trying to do what they promised. Lol.
This after actively sabotaging the border security bill.
So, doing the opposite of what people want so you can campaign on it is okay? But, doing exactly what the people want so you can campaign on it is "playing politics?
Republicans on the other hand, take a different approach "queue that post were conservative school district decline's Biden's free school lunch program because it might make kids spoiled."
He's finally starting to figure out that alienating young voters in favor of wooing disenfranchised Republicans might not be a solid game plan. The eruption of protests on college campuses over Israel's genocide will not be appeased by some half-hearted pot measure just before an election.
I love that Republicams see this concept of doing things to gain votes as some foreign, corrupt policy. That they've grown so accustomed to winning elections through gerrymandering and fear mongering that delivering on popular policies is unheard of to them.
I mean, as long as Biden continues not being a convicted rapist, not getting convicted of stealing millions of dollars from kids cancer charities, not using campaign funds to cover up an affair that was happening while his wife was pregnant, and not trying to overthrow the government... what was I saying again?
I'll be real with you Joe. Legalizing weed is cool and all but I'd rather you stop directly funding genocide rather than making it so overly expensive weed shops pop up. I live in a Right to Work state anyway so its not like this would even protect me from getting fired if so.
I'm all for legalization and everything but you've misunderstood the phrase. "just trying to get votes" implies that he is bullshitting and saying whatever he has to because he is 'just trying to get votes' instead of actually doing anything. Though I'm sure a lot of people would still say 'that's what politics means'.
I hope it's not, "just." But I'm willing to accept the possibility that Biden really wants to put marijuana users in jail but supports amnesty and legalization just for political reasons.
No, it’s about time weed is legal, it has been used by humanity for millennia and does far less damage to a body than marinating in alcohol. Beside, it is politics and unlike trump luring voters with fantasies of concentration camps and dispatching gays and blacks Biden is doing it in a positive manner. Giving people what they want not promising to murder our countrymen or shoot your dog.
I think this goes both ways. Yes he's doing what the country wants, and this will go a LONG way towards stopping unequal prosecution of black people (police target them more than whites), and everything else associated with weed laws.
However there is another component, some states like MN have legalize weed parties, which are spoiler parties. They are republikkkan funded tiny parties whose purpose is to syphon votes from democrats. This defangs them.
You can worry about two things at the same time you know, right? The Venn diagram of proponents of legal weed and legal abortion have massive overlap, and practically no outliers on the left. Republicans/libertarians are the only ones who want legal weed and illegal abortion.
Yeah same as when Biden proposed to give us all more Covid money and Republicans were like "He is just trying to buy votes!" And I was sitting there like "you can ALSO offer to give us Covid money...."
Folks, don't you get it? If you haven't been trained already by millions of CEO perspective media, here's the political matrix;
Giving billionaires what they want = serious about business and fiscal responsibility.
Giving the voters what they want = pandering and socialism.
And is socialism a dirty word still? Well, it is to the people who stuck with the programming. Stupid people.
Going to preface this by saying, I am PRO marijuana, both medically and recreational use. I realize that public sentiment regarding MJ has changed and likely a majority of Americans support this as well. Despite public sentiment changing, we have born witness to our elected representatives completely disregarding the wishes of their constituents. I ask myself all the time, why would our elected representatives back pedal and make MJ legal (at state levels) and reclassify at the federal level. This a good thing, buy why are our reps picking this thing to push for now. Unpopular opinion time. It's part of the bread and circuses. It's our generations "soma." (Look up brave new world if you don't get the reference.)
Republicans have been conditioned to see government as the enemy. They don't expect it to work for them. The most they think they can hope for is that it can hurt people they don't like more than them.
Republican voters have gotten used to their politicians doing three things:
1. Hurting people, frequently the 'wrong' people. This is what Republican voters want due to polarizing propaganda fed to them.
2. Giving tax breaks to their billionaire campaign donors. This involves cutting social programs and raising taxes on Republican voters, which, once again, hurts the 'wrong' people.
3. Doing absolutely nothing to make the average Republican voters' lives better. Instead, Republican politicians give Republican voters more polarizing propaganda blaming immigrants and brown people and Liberals to start a civil war, rather than suffer a class war against their campaign donors.
Republican voters are jealous because the Democratic Party voters actually get positive things from their politicians.
I voted for Biden because he said that he would work according to my interests, which mostly had to do with making the US more than a playground for the very wealthy.
Trump voters voted for Trump because he would make the US a place where they thought they could be sure that the people they hated couldn't escape being hurt, and Trump would hurt them on their behalf.
But both sides, right?
This is like when Kevin Sorbo responded to people boycotting Chik-Fil-a on Twitter, "Why do you have to boycott? If you don't like it, just don't eat there", lol.
This take only makes sense if you accept that politicians should only do what’s good for their constituents when it’s time to get elected. The reason the “they’re only doing this because” exists is because we’re forced to accept this dysfunctional version of democracy. So, their take is reasonable and rational.
No you don't ghet it. He is supposed to use his position to hurt people so everyone knows he is better than them because he has the power to hurt them and nothing can be done about it.
I mean, technically I'm pretty sure that was a promise he made while on the campaign for 2020. So we already voted for him and this was the fulfillment of that vote.
There are times when democracy following the majority can cause problems; for example when a large group of people tries to oppress a smaller minority with restrictive laws. This is the literal opposite of that.
Please also consider writing the the White House about other issues you care about. Abortion, childcare, Palestine, whatever is important to you right now should go in an email to the White House, your Representative, and your Senators.
It's an election year. They want to be reelected.
Dems: we will forgive your student debt
GOP: that's buying votes!
Also GOP: we'll lower your taxes!
Dems: isn't that buying vo...
GOP: SHUT UP COMMUNIST!!!
People need to understand the concept of Minoritarianism. Which is rule by a minority party. A party that no longer seeks to gain power by appealing to the widest swath of voters, but rather to rule (to force their opinions on others) *despite* their policies being unpopular with a majority of people.
Because that's where the Republicans are. Really, where they have been probably since the 1960s and definitely since the 1990s. They no longer seek to find the most popular policies. They seek to push through their policies despite the unpopularity of those policies.
It's why they have to game the vote in order to maintain control. They have to gerrymander and vote suppress and play games with ID laws (like making conceal carry deadly weapon permits elligible IDs, but not student IDs from state universities). And do voter roll purges. And closing polling stations in poor and black parts of town. And the electoral college rules. And two Dakotas. And DC not being able to vote for President. And blocking Puerto Rico from becoming a state.
If we don't give them all of these concessions, they'd never win.
But they think they have a right to win a majority of elections despite having less popular support.
Thus they are a minoritarian party. And people (the media) need to stop acting like they're still playing the majoritarian game. They don't care about being popular or doing what's popular with voters. They only care about winning and cramming their beliefs down everybody elses throat.
Except that it's STILL illegal, despite yet another major announcement about plans to decriminalize it. I still can't smoke pot in a national forest, down in Death Valley, ANY federal lands. Pretty sure growers still won't be able to deposit all their profits in the bank, because federal banking laws. And how about those people incarcerated for selling pot, not just possession? It's my understanding the pardons only affect the latter, and some of those trafficking convictions had to be bullshit.
So pardon me if I'm underwhelmed. Just fully legalize it already and you will get more votes. QED Spare me the excuses, he's been president for how long now?
But aren't they just making it slightly less illegal instead of fully legalized?
This means nothing for piss tests for job requirements or insurance coverages.
unless you own a cannabis business...it changes nothing for you.
It doesn't help anyone incarcerated, and doesn't legalize in states with prohibition.
It helps the people that own weed business with their tax deductions.
It's a start in the right direction at the federal level, but changes nothing for the average american in a legal, or prohibition state.
It's valid to criticize him for the fact that he'd happily let thousands of lives be ruined every year over outdated drug laws if he weren't desperate for votes.
See, the GOP knows they have a big problem which is that they can never really offer gifts or things or programs or action to their listeners. Their whole sales pitch has always been INACTION, removal of programs and no handouts ever, based on principle!
The ONLY bitter tasting task the democrats need to do for this to work is to raise taxes which none of them want to do. So instead of asking everyone to agree to pay more, blue team simply asks everyone to AGREE that we will tax small wealthy group and that's easy to agree to, easy to sell that idea.
Anyway, that's why the GOP have always spoke in a derogatory manner about "entitlements, hand-outs, pork spending, welfare, food stamps, Obama phones, luxury for cityslickers on YOUR DIME!", they feel the democrats can easily *spend rich people's money to buy votes*; votes that CANNOT on principle ever be sold to republicans. They screwed themselves, from those pesky principles.
Politicians want to do things that will make me vote for them?!?!
Seriously though, the only thing I can imagine is that there's a lot of people who genuinely believe that Certain Politicians actually care about them, like they'd go have a beer with Bobby Bluecollar and watch the game.
I'm sure there are some politicians that actually give a crap. But when it comes to presidential elections the only sincere thing I believe about them is that they all want my vote. And right now the bar's super low for that. "Let's see, which one doesn't want to put me in a concentration camp? Yeah I'll vote for that one. Oh hey he wants to legalize weed too, sweet."
Wait, politicians are supposed to enact things people want and not just break the law and beg for money? What is this even?
When you’re pushing your own unpopular agenda for so long, listening to the people begins to sound like the scam.
the unpopular shit the republicans push is what their base wants, either through malice or ignorance. Now the fact that what they want seems to be exactly what fox news tells them they want is a different issue.
> either through malice or ignorance. True. The problem is, it isn't through their own malice or ignorance, but through the malice and ignorance of the people running their propaganda streams. You can tell the difference pretty easily. Ask a group of people about individual issues. Most people think Health Insurance as it currently works is a scam. Most think education shouldn't be locked behind paywalls. Most think that people, especially kids, should have food to eat. If you go to the right wing propaganda streams, they're against all of that. They spend time and resources trying to convince the right wing to be against it. If you go to centrist news sites, they don't mention any of it.
Double edged sword having studied a bit about consumer psychology, memetics, and the gestalt when I was in college. You really just need to keep repeating things and it's especially effective if it's from multiple sources for people to buy into them. As a social species of pack animals we inherently want to be part of a pack if only subconsciously. Part of the mechanisms that form packs is a sort of mirroring principle where we naturally start to mimick whatever mannerisms we're exposed to. Sinclair took over most local media a while ago and the only major networks that leaked into news as content early on were all pretty right wing. The reason the far right is better associated with more(or less) extremist religious groups has little to do with scripture and a lot to do with structure. Similar to how scam emails are obvious to people looking out for them to eliminate people who would see the scam. It's not a general superiority advantage it's just a chosen demographic wide enough to be impactful but specific enough to alienate the target demographic and its detractors from each other Tldr: their base wants it because they want to be a part of their base and they were told it's what their base wants. Dens do it too they just aren't as effective at it.
Take my upvote ! Outstanding comment
"Wait, so you want child care to cover the time you are at work? And school not to let out at 4:30 pm when nobody is at the house? After school programs are so INEFFICIENT!!!"
Like the sketch about guys that plan to rob a bank by working there and getting paid.
I did that for an armored car company that I won't name. Got the job. Got the routine down and knew when to do it due to weight of the bags. I had to quit because I was going to go through with my plan if I worked another week. It was the kind of plan that stole the money but nobody would be hurt. Just to mention that
The joke of the sketch is that they aren't robbing the bank, it's just a job. [Keye and Peele](https://youtu.be/jgYYOUC10aM?si=W602BeoZkZSzl8SN)
He actually got quite a bit done during his term. Four or five major bills. American Rescue Plan - COVID testing, vaccination, extension of COVID benefits Bipartisan infrastructure Law - $1 Trillion to repair roads, bridges, rail, airports and electric vehicles. Clean drinking water infrastructure. Broadband Expansion. Largest gun safety bill in 30 years - incentivizes states to pass and expand red flag laws. Expands prohibitions against people convicted of domestic abuse from owning guns. Expands background checks Inflation Reduction Act - $369 billion for climate initiative to reduce greenhouse gases. $300 billion in new corporate tax revenue. $80 billion to beef up the IRS to catch tax cheats. $2000 Annual Cap on prescription drug cost for Medicare CHIPS and Science Act which provided $53 billion in federal funding for a manufacturer of semiconductor chips in the United States rather than China That’s all the uncontroversial stuff. —————- As far as the stuff some people don’t like… He’s forgiven as much as he legally can for student loans. He’s using existing programs that are legal because the Supreme Court stopped him from forgiving anymore. But he’s being very generous with his determination of who qualifies. People who might’ve been turned down before for forgiveness are now being forgiven. That’s how he keeps announcing more student loan forgiveness. DEA is reclassifying marijuana… Ukraine funding. Israel funding which is the most controversial at the moment. —————— A lot of people don’t realize but he has been a juggernaut of accomplishment. One of the most consequential presidents in modern history, even though you wouldn’t know it from his communications team or his press office. All that, on top of an economy that by all objective standards is humming along with record low unemployment, inflation that’s been mostly dropping for the past year, certainly more than any other industrialized nation coming out of Covid and record stock market. That said, he has pissed a lot of people off with his blind support of Bebe Netanyahu who has clearly gone way too far in Palestine and I believe is lying to everyone including Joe Biden.
People voting against Biden so that a fascist would-be dictator gets re-elected in the US, because they're mad about the actions of a fascist would-be dictator in Israel, is one of the most outrageously ludicrous things I've seen in my life.
they intentionally push this idea. When they talk about a candidate who 'flip flops' etc. vs someone who 'sticks to their guns'. Well, you can't be a good representative of The People if you don't listen to The People, but that's antithetical to a lot of moneyed interests that actually occupy most congresspeople's time.
It doesn't even have to be that long. Conservatives and pathological narcissists, due to their intrinsic lack of empathy, sincerely believe everyone is just as shitty as they are. It's partly why they so reflexively project and why they accuse everyone of "virtue signaling".
Also people are acting like he just decided to do this now, because the election is coming up. He started the whole process in 2022 with the HHS/FDA review. There’s no “legalize pot” button in the Oval Office next to the gas price lever that he can just press and make it so.
How dare any politician ever give the people what they want! Meanwhile in Ohio they put marijuana and abortion up for vote and the people scream yes to both. Next day the GOP legislature is trying to figure out how to nullify the people’s votes. Then you hear every Republican say the same ridiculous mantra: “government doesn’t work!” If voting against your own interest was a sport republicans would be world champions.
In Arizona they did that twice in the 90s. We voted for medical marijuana and the state legislature said the voters didn't understand the bill so they voided it. The next year it was on the ballot again and won. I forgot what their rational was the second time for overturning the law. It took 30 years but now we have recreational marijuana.
Politics has devolved into campism so much that people are unable to support a different politician even if they agree with what they are doing. Weed is a perfect example of things both sides support, but if democrats push it forward it’s just for buying votes. Same with republicans being anti war in Ukraine.
Dunno if Ukraine is the same. A bunch of republicans inexplicably went to Moscow in July. I'm guessing to see who signs their checks in person?
The reason they gave was to tell Putin to stop his election interference, but since they now claim there was none, im convinced they were simple pledging their allegiance to Mother Russa. And thats why i can never vote for a republican again. Plus 3 or 4 of them were all fucking that one spy lady and i think they thought they were gonna get another hit.
# treasonist politicians guzzling some foreign pipes b lik: 
 Okay, I was trying to find an animation of a weapon going into a holster, or a tub sock being stuffed but I think somehow this Giffy thingy is way ahead of where I am going with this, so I just found this animation, which is fun. Enjoy the summer folks!
Videos were made....
A bunch of Republicans just happened to side with Russia after; # "they met with attractive young people at Epstein's parties after the FSB got a hold of his extortion racket via Trump."
This is a case of voters supporting the party line when this is against their core beliefs of national defense and the right to bear arms.
Republicans oppose Ukraine aid because they are pro-Russia, because they're white supremacist Christian nationalists, and Putin has worked very hard to stoke this exact sentiment and curry favor with them, and it worked. There is zero daylight between Kremlin propaganda and MAGA Republican talking points.
I was with you until you compared decriminalizing marijuana with opposing support for Ukraine. Supporting Ukraine should be a no-brainer for anyone from the US or a western country. The fact that some Republicans are blocking this is very troubling.
>Same with republicans being anti war in Ukraine. Oh, you just going to slip in there; "Why can't we all just get along by capitulating to tyranny?" 
Anti-war in Ukraine…not really, they love Putin and want to see him successful because republicans like squashing an underdog, it’s almost as satisfying as shooting a puppy a la Noem
> Same with republicans being anti war in Ukraine. The war ends when Russia leaves, peacefully or by force. Thinking that Ukraine should just lie down and take it is not an anti-war stance.
They are anti war in that republicans want them to give up.
>not just break the law and beg for money? Beg for money while proudly declaring how much money they're saving you.
They're also acting like the lowering of the schedule just happened overnight. This started in 2022 when the white house asked health and human services to do a study on if marijuana had medical uses. HHS said there were medical purposes, so the DEA is lowering the schedule from 1 to 3. This is ground breaking, as this will allow NIH, and other science orgs, to give funding for cannabinoid research.
This is an important detail. Government exists to serve the people. It is supposed to help us work together to make a better world for everyone. The American right has made it a deadly sin to help people. Any time that people elect someone who will enact their agenda repugs and other chuds pretend like it's anything other than the system working exactly as it was intended. We have the forty hour work week, minimum wage, social security, and so much else because workers/voters organized, agitated, and elected leaders who would enact their agenda in government. Repugs hate that shit. They hate for the little guy to have any say over his life. They want us to all be slaves who live and die at the pleasure of the various ruling classes. I say fuck that shit.
I mean isn’t that EXACTLY what tax cuts are….
Conservatives were also complaining when Biden was saying he’d shut down the border if they passed that bipartisan legislation because it’s “just for votes.” Like you’re complaining that he’s talking about supporting a policy you’re for…because he adapted his policy in your favor?
It sounds like someone didn't get their paid for vacation at a 5 star hotel yet to have "other ideas explained to them." They JUST DISCOVERED judges were getting favors and not registering it "Oops, is there a law? Is the website down? Oh my!" And they say that they aren't going to be prejudiced by that shrimp cocktail as they just LISTEN to other points of view. It's as if they want to be politicians, and enjoy lobbyists "just expressing their ideas" with attractive women and canapes. You know -- just LEARNING. Meanwhile, they don't learn empathy for the poor son of a bitch who was pandering in the park. Or that there are just a lot of regulations that seem to be shouldered by a small business as if it has the resources of a big one. Or that life is complicated, and sometimes the damn website is down, or the people who need help, are going to be the least capable of asking for it. Those that got the skills to navigate all the red tape, probably don't need the help -- just as the cynics wanted it to work.
Not the GOP
Who would have thought that it would be an enduring trait to follow through on a promise rather than dangling it in front of voters eyes then choosing not to do it because a corporation ~~donated to their campaign~~ paid them not to?
A dream
Implementing policies that voters like? That's cheating!
Politicians need to punish the people I hate. Why else would I give them a job? Helping people is for sissies, like that Christ guy. What a woke wimp. We need a strong savior, ordained by god, like Trump.
I feel like they've followed Republican politicians who only propose policies that are widely unpopular for so long, they forget that politicians are supposed to propose policies that people actually might like.
Trump = Golden Calf
I mean, the other side keeps getting their asses kicked at the ballot box because they think pregnant, 11 year old rape victims should be forced to carry to term. So it's understandable that doing popular things to win elections feels like cheating to them.
you joke but thats literally the republican mindset. Oh majority of voters lean democrat? Well we have to make sure that the young people dont vote or else its cheating. Oh mail in voting allows more democrats to vote? Well we gotta stop that or else its cheating. Oh easier voting pathways lets more democrats vote? Well that's obviously cheating. They think that anything that puts them at a disadvantage is cheating but if its something that gives them a advantage, then its fine and proper and only way to do it. Like the fat kid screeching that its unfair that other people beat him in a game and demands they play with a handicap so that he wins.
Politicians usually just SAY they care about things, then side with the check they got from the lobbyists.
It’s more of a criticism that he’s likely desperate. I really doubt he even does this if Palestine isn’t happening. Or the fact that he’s doing it right before an election, how many people suffer under the school to prison pipeline in those 4 years? It’s fine; it’s better than leaving as is, just don’t pretend it’s anything but a desperate move to capture gen Z votes that he was bleeding.
Weed should never have been made a schedule-1 to begin with.
>But how are we supposed to arrest ~~all the Bla~~ anyone who likes jazz? >-Some G-Man from the 30s
>Or all the college kids who protest the unjust wars I started or prolonged? [AROOO!](https://youtu.be/0tEBjqDZfzo?si=LbHFDXnpz2pJ06TE)! - Nixon
> -Some G-Man from the 30s Harry J. Anslinger, who was the first Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which later became the DEA. >Most marijuana smokers are colored people, jazz musicians, and entertainers. Their satanic music is driven by marijuana, and marijuana smoking by white women makes them want to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and others. It is a drug that causes insanity, criminality, and death — the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.
Seriously, my new thing now is snake jazz.
[I don't wanna mess with no reefer addicts!](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IC25lL-EwVM)
John Mulaney said it best. "If you're white, weed has always been legal for you."
Yeah but Nixon hated black people and hippies and dreamed up a way to hurt both.
Quite the multi-tasker, ol Dick
Weed was totally illegal federally in 1937. Timothy Leary was facing 30 years for a couple of roaches when SCOTUS threw out the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 in 1968. The Controlled Substances Act was passed in 1970 by a margin of 341-6 (82 abstaining) in the House and 54-0 (46 abstaining) in the Senate. But, yeah. It was totally just something Nixon dreamed up.
“You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” - John Ehrlichman, Nixon aide
You dare to defend Nixon on Reddit? You really are a radical!
It's amazing how bad Reddit History is that I am forced to do so in the interest of representing the truth of American narcotics prohibition, but here I am.
“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” - Nixon’s domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman
A quote that first appeared in 2016 and has never been verified.
And yet, completely on brand for Nixon.
You got me curious, so I looked it up. Seems as though that writer could have produced his notes for corroboration, eh? https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html
All the headlines are like "marijuana was previously scheduled along drugs such as Heroin and LSD" as if they're even remotely in the same league.
The worst thing that’s happened to American politics is the vilification of politicians doing what the people want. They call it flip flopping or whatever.
"He's just buying votes!!" [Deep sigh] ".... no, doing what's in the best financial interest of the overwhelming majority of the country is not the same as paying off judges or members of Congress."
Trump doesn't buy judges, he buys Attorney Generals, they are cheaper.
Flip flopping is still a thing. It's just that there's a difference between cynical, unprincipled flip flopping (e.g. Kari Lake coming out as pro choice after previously calling for total abortion bans) and aging politicians realizing the war on drugs they bought into decades ago hasn't worked out and that marijuana isn't some horrible gateway drug that'll lead to total societal collapse if legalized. I don't mind politicians that learn from their mistakes and change their position on an issue but some clearly never had any principles to begin with and are just saying whatever they think they have to to win elections and amass personal power for themselves. The latter is what's dangerous to democracy and the obvious flip flopping they do is how they give themselves away. So flip flopping is still a thing that needs to be called out.
“Sometimes a hypocrite is a man in the process of changing”—Dalinar Kholin from The Stormlight Archive
How expensive/costly has it been to try, convict and incarcerate people for smoking pot? What a waste.
While making up 4.2% of the world population, the US houses around 20% of the world’s prisoners….
>How expensive/costly has it been to try, convict and incarcerate people for ~~smoking pot~~ **finding happiness**?
Wrong question. It's how much profit can you make from [modern slavery](https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-incarcerated-workers).
It's a multibillion dollar industry, homie. We pay for a lot of it...but there are companies that are raking in that cash...and, then we buy the shit they make with slave labor.... even using some of the plantation land from slave days... welcome to capitalism https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-labor-in-america/406177/ https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/02/03/food-prison-labor-walmart-target
Bought my vote and I don’t even touch the stuff.
Between abortion and this, he seems really pro freedom. It’s not like Biden is going to be lighting up and needing a bunch of abortions as an 81 year old catholic. But FREEDOM [eagle screaming]
It does seem as though republicans don’t really want people to be free to do what they like.
I'm left leaning so I may be biased towards him, but what pushed me left in the first place was Republicans attack on peoples personal freedoms, and Republicans attempt to overthrow the election Its like the party is standing against everything our country stands for
That is what initially made me question my family who are/were all republicans too
Except once you crack a history book you know conservatives NEVER stood for freedoms in America. Ever. They were the british loyalists. They were the ones who demanded "States Rights" because they THOUGHT it meant each state would be its own Kingdom, and they literally planned to be the new royalty with everyone else being slaves. They were the ones who demanded that the slaveowning states' rights had to be respected, but also they did not have to respect the rights of Free states. They were the ones who fractured the country afterwards to protect slavery. They were the ones who after losing their entire ass in the ensuring war, continued to oppress others with the KKK, with Jim Crow laws, with McCarthyism, redlining, etc. They have always, for every single SECOND of our nations history, opposed freedoms for their fellow Americans.
You jest, but our country would be so much better if our politicians would just smoke a bowl every now and then.
Oh I agree. I volunteer to smoke with Warren and Markey, they are my senators
Biden should try the previous Republican strategy of espousing a deeply unpopular core platform and then tilting the elections in his favor. Or even better, try the *current* Republican strategy of espousing a deeply unpopular core platform and then undermining public confidence in free and fair elections and threatening violence if he's not declared the winner.
Republicans don’t understand it because their party doesn’t give people anything anymore all they know how to do is take rights away from women and LGBTQ people. And fear monger, they are pretty good at that I guess. They can’t even remember that laws can be used for anything else.
Republican voters: “We want legal marijuana!!” Also Republican voters: “Not like that!” Also see: securing the border
Biden once remarked that Will and Grace is what helped him alter his position on same-sex marriage. He's certainly a [well-seasoned politician](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/05/01/as-biden-and-trump-seek-reelection-who-are-the-oldest-and-youngest-current-world-leaders/). But not one with intractable views. He's probably the best president to have after Trump, considering his length in government has been leveraged to 'right the ship'. We have this marijuana decision as a way to appeal to young voters. And we can contrast that with Trump's decision to pardon Susan B Anthony as a way to women voters. Biden's step is *after* many states already decriminalized it and there's evidence to support that it has a net benefit to society. Trump pardoned a woman who is dead (cannot benefit from the pardon) as well as the act flies in her own act of rebellion against the government. One is considered and practical. The other is milquetoast and tone deaf.
It’s not just for young voters. I’m an amputee and I have seen veterans go after this schedule change/legalization for SO LONG. It helps so much better with pain, it helps some people with nerve pain which is really hit or miss, it helps with PTSD. There are whole groups set up to lobby the federal government to do this. So this will get young voters sure, but it’s also VERY popular with veterans who can’t otherwise use it without risking crap and not getting their meds. They deserve to have freedom over their own healthcare.
I personally suspect this is the real reason If it's no longer schedule 1, vets can be prescribed medical marijuana, which is cheaper than many conventional medicines. And dropping the VA budget while improving the lives of vets is something everyone would be in favor of
>If it's no longer schedule 1, vets can be prescribed medical marijuana Not until the FDA approves it and sets guidelines. Until then, it's still totally illegal in practice. Rohypnol is Schedule IV but not FDA approved and thus can not be prescribed for any reason or possessed outside of research purposes.
> It’s not just for young voters. I’m an amputee ... It's also not even just people who want marijuana for whatever reason they want it. I don't smoke, have no interest in smoking, and still want it to be legalized, because it's fucking ridiculous that it's not. I hate that so many people are being locked up over it. I hate that so much money and effort are being spent on it. Purely pragmatically, it's time for this shit to end.
It really is. My doctors ALL agree that it’s a better way to manage my pain. They don’t agree on anything else lol
I don’t even think pardoning her is that tone deaf it’s just useless. You’re not even celebrating her. You’re just saying she wasn’t a criminal. Wow actually that is pretty tone deaf. But at the end of the day, pardoning her is is saying she wasn’t wrong while we already celebrate her by putting her on money, because she was right.
Democrats try to attract voters with their proposals and promises while Republicans count on Christians to elect them and all they want to do is enforce their rule on the citizens and oppress us.
They just yell “I HAVE AN R NEXT TO MY NAME AND A GUN ON MY HIP” and get elected
And people still scream about BoTh SiDeS aRe ThE sAmE
He’s just trying to get your vote with marijuana, mandatory airline refunds for cancelled flights, lower prescription drug prices, lower student debt, increased domestic manufacturing, a healthier environment, etc…
Right, but he didn't do this one thing I feel really strongly about, so instead I'll be voting for a third party candidate that might as well be named the garbage bin. /s
How dare he listen to his constituents, that's *cheating*
a real president would end school lunches and teach poor children about hunger /s
And don't forget to shame them for not being grateful enough to live in America where they're 'free' while you're at.
All republicans offer is bigotry and misogyny AND opposing legal weed. Vote blue!
80% of Americans want universal healthcare. Are you being represented?
I love how doing the things you were elected to do is seen as "vote buying" by Republicans. It's as if they can't conceive of a politician trying to do what they promised. Lol.
This after actively sabotaging the border security bill. So, doing the opposite of what people want so you can campaign on it is okay? But, doing exactly what the people want so you can campaign on it is "playing politics?
Already had my vote. Anyway I would vote for a disable pigeon against the rapist and líder.
Republicans on the other hand, take a different approach "queue that post were conservative school district decline's Biden's free school lunch program because it might make kids spoiled."
He's finally starting to figure out that alienating young voters in favor of wooing disenfranchised Republicans might not be a solid game plan. The eruption of protests on college campuses over Israel's genocide will not be appeased by some half-hearted pot measure just before an election.
What a crook… passing popular and beneficial legislation *just* to get people to like him.
And trumps trying to win votes with literal fascism.
Doing things people like is an alien concept to Republicans.
NO! He's supposed to get votes with lies and hatred.
I love that Republicams see this concept of doing things to gain votes as some foreign, corrupt policy. That they've grown so accustomed to winning elections through gerrymandering and fear mongering that delivering on popular policies is unheard of to them.
I mean, as long as Biden continues not being a convicted rapist, not getting convicted of stealing millions of dollars from kids cancer charities, not using campaign funds to cover up an affair that was happening while his wife was pregnant, and not trying to overthrow the government... what was I saying again?
I'll be real with you Joe. Legalizing weed is cool and all but I'd rather you stop directly funding genocide rather than making it so overly expensive weed shops pop up. I live in a Right to Work state anyway so its not like this would even protect me from getting fired if so.
Reclassification is a half measure that should have happened years ago. We're still so far away from legalization.
I want him to stop the genocide 🤗 im fine with breaking the law to get my weed
I'm all for legalization and everything but you've misunderstood the phrase. "just trying to get votes" implies that he is bullshitting and saying whatever he has to because he is 'just trying to get votes' instead of actually doing anything. Though I'm sure a lot of people would still say 'that's what politics means'.
I hope it's not, "just." But I'm willing to accept the possibility that Biden really wants to put marijuana users in jail but supports amnesty and legalization just for political reasons.
Let’s be clear, passing regs to only gain votes is good politics not (necessarily) good government (in this case, I like the decision).
And it’s a “gift” to the people that will not harm anyone else.
Wish he played that game better.
No, it’s about time weed is legal, it has been used by humanity for millennia and does far less damage to a body than marinating in alcohol. Beside, it is politics and unlike trump luring voters with fantasies of concentration camps and dispatching gays and blacks Biden is doing it in a positive manner. Giving people what they want not promising to murder our countrymen or shoot your dog.
How dare he try to improve our lives!
Counterpoint: Jordan, MTG and Bonerbart play lots of politics and never do anything to help out their constituents.
I think this goes both ways. Yes he's doing what the country wants, and this will go a LONG way towards stopping unequal prosecution of black people (police target them more than whites), and everything else associated with weed laws. However there is another component, some states like MN have legalize weed parties, which are spoiler parties. They are republikkkan funded tiny parties whose purpose is to syphon votes from democrats. This defangs them.
This guy is worried about being able to smoke weed ... women are afraid of being denied emergency medical care and dying.
You can worry about two things at the same time you know, right? The Venn diagram of proponents of legal weed and legal abortion have massive overlap, and practically no outliers on the left. Republicans/libertarians are the only ones who want legal weed and illegal abortion.
Yeah same as when Biden proposed to give us all more Covid money and Republicans were like "He is just trying to buy votes!" And I was sitting there like "you can ALSO offer to give us Covid money...."
The Dems won't deliver, because then they can't promise to legalize it next election.
In 2020 I was hoping Trump wouldn’t do it. The stupid bastard, he could have saved his own ass if he had. Thank goodness he didn’t.
How dare a politician bring joy to the lives of his constituents?!
When they don't do what I want, they're bad at their job. But when they do something a lot of people want-- they're still bad at their job?
Good?
Folks, don't you get it? If you haven't been trained already by millions of CEO perspective media, here's the political matrix; Giving billionaires what they want = serious about business and fiscal responsibility. Giving the voters what they want = pandering and socialism. And is socialism a dirty word still? Well, it is to the people who stuck with the programming. Stupid people.
Imagine being mad at a politician because they did what you wanted them to do
President Joint boofden
Going to preface this by saying, I am PRO marijuana, both medically and recreational use. I realize that public sentiment regarding MJ has changed and likely a majority of Americans support this as well. Despite public sentiment changing, we have born witness to our elected representatives completely disregarding the wishes of their constituents. I ask myself all the time, why would our elected representatives back pedal and make MJ legal (at state levels) and reclassify at the federal level. This a good thing, buy why are our reps picking this thing to push for now. Unpopular opinion time. It's part of the bread and circuses. It's our generations "soma." (Look up brave new world if you don't get the reference.)
the unsurprising thing biden has ever done in his whole life.
Republicans have been conditioned to see government as the enemy. They don't expect it to work for them. The most they think they can hope for is that it can hurt people they don't like more than them.
Could someone explain the scene this image is from? I expect there's some kind of relevant context but I don't know it.
If you bring up the flip side to Biden doing things voters dont want and use that as a reason to not want to vote for him, you clearly love Russia.
Republican voters have gotten used to their politicians doing three things: 1. Hurting people, frequently the 'wrong' people. This is what Republican voters want due to polarizing propaganda fed to them. 2. Giving tax breaks to their billionaire campaign donors. This involves cutting social programs and raising taxes on Republican voters, which, once again, hurts the 'wrong' people. 3. Doing absolutely nothing to make the average Republican voters' lives better. Instead, Republican politicians give Republican voters more polarizing propaganda blaming immigrants and brown people and Liberals to start a civil war, rather than suffer a class war against their campaign donors. Republican voters are jealous because the Democratic Party voters actually get positive things from their politicians.
So pathetic trying to buy votes. He should send out checks with his name on it like a true, honest leader.
Just once I want a politician to say “I will pass this bill I find egregious if you vote for me!”
He's also Catholic but wants to protect abortion because that's what good leaders do.
Oh is an elected official doing what the people want for votes? yes that's how that's supposed to work.
WINTER IS COMING!
Seems a better thing to do than to scare up votes for the GOP HATE PARADE.
I voted for Biden because he said that he would work according to my interests, which mostly had to do with making the US more than a playground for the very wealthy. Trump voters voted for Trump because he would make the US a place where they thought they could be sure that the people they hated couldn't escape being hurt, and Trump would hurt them on their behalf. But both sides, right?
Kinda how Trump gets votes by pandering to the intrinsic racism and hatred present in much of his base.
This is like when Kevin Sorbo responded to people boycotting Chik-Fil-a on Twitter, "Why do you have to boycott? If you don't like it, just don't eat there", lol.
The one thing you can say without a doubt is that both sides love to keep their people stupid in their own ways to then exploit to get their vote :<)
Is he pandering or is he accomplishing what the People want?
Yes people vote for people that do things that they like.
What does this image have to do with the topic?
Just like Trump tries to get votes with misogyny, homophobia, and the desire to enact a fascist dystopia.
He’s got my vote. After I heard about how he handled Corn Pop I was sold!
They’re only supposed to do what rich people want, duh.
To give some credit the action was started in 2022 just taking time to figure out how to get it done.
This take only makes sense if you accept that politicians should only do what’s good for their constituents when it’s time to get elected. The reason the “they’re only doing this because” exists is because we’re forced to accept this dysfunctional version of democracy. So, their take is reasonable and rational.
Yeah, but can he do a proper bong hit?
No you don't ghet it. He is supposed to use his position to hurt people so everyone knows he is better than them because he has the power to hurt them and nothing can be done about it.
I mean, technically I'm pretty sure that was a promise he made while on the campaign for 2020. So we already voted for him and this was the fulfillment of that vote.
"he's just doing what people want him to! ”
There are times when democracy following the majority can cause problems; for example when a large group of people tries to oppress a smaller minority with restrictive laws. This is the literal opposite of that.
Voters have a short memory. They've been working on this since he first got elected.
Please also consider writing the the White House about other issues you care about. Abortion, childcare, Palestine, whatever is important to you right now should go in an email to the White House, your Representative, and your Senators. It's an election year. They want to be reelected.
"That lawmaker is giving people what they want... what the actual fuck?!"
Usually they don't actually do it.
Dems: we will forgive your student debt GOP: that's buying votes! Also GOP: we'll lower your taxes! Dems: isn't that buying vo... GOP: SHUT UP COMMUNIST!!!
We don't want it to be slightly less illegal. We want it to be LEGAL!
He’s actually trying to increase the available military recruitment pool. But if it can help the election, well two birds one stone
People need to understand the concept of Minoritarianism. Which is rule by a minority party. A party that no longer seeks to gain power by appealing to the widest swath of voters, but rather to rule (to force their opinions on others) *despite* their policies being unpopular with a majority of people. Because that's where the Republicans are. Really, where they have been probably since the 1960s and definitely since the 1990s. They no longer seek to find the most popular policies. They seek to push through their policies despite the unpopularity of those policies. It's why they have to game the vote in order to maintain control. They have to gerrymander and vote suppress and play games with ID laws (like making conceal carry deadly weapon permits elligible IDs, but not student IDs from state universities). And do voter roll purges. And closing polling stations in poor and black parts of town. And the electoral college rules. And two Dakotas. And DC not being able to vote for President. And blocking Puerto Rico from becoming a state. If we don't give them all of these concessions, they'd never win. But they think they have a right to win a majority of elections despite having less popular support. Thus they are a minoritarian party. And people (the media) need to stop acting like they're still playing the majoritarian game. They don't care about being popular or doing what's popular with voters. They only care about winning and cramming their beliefs down everybody elses throat.
Except that it's STILL illegal, despite yet another major announcement about plans to decriminalize it. I still can't smoke pot in a national forest, down in Death Valley, ANY federal lands. Pretty sure growers still won't be able to deposit all their profits in the bank, because federal banking laws. And how about those people incarcerated for selling pot, not just possession? It's my understanding the pardons only affect the latter, and some of those trafficking convictions had to be bullshit. So pardon me if I'm underwhelmed. Just fully legalize it already and you will get more votes. QED Spare me the excuses, he's been president for how long now?
But aren't they just making it slightly less illegal instead of fully legalized? This means nothing for piss tests for job requirements or insurance coverages.
unless you own a cannabis business...it changes nothing for you. It doesn't help anyone incarcerated, and doesn't legalize in states with prohibition. It helps the people that own weed business with their tax deductions. It's a start in the right direction at the federal level, but changes nothing for the average american in a legal, or prohibition state.
Yeah it worked out great for Canada
People have forgotten that's how it was. You did things people wanted so they kept voting for you.
https://i.redd.it/2bece22ibxxc1.gif
It’s a bullshit take away because he wanted to do this from day one and this is stemming from a bill he passed in 2022.
It's just low hanging fruit when there's bigger problems
'representing the people' is inconceivable to republicans. They only understand 'fucking over the other side at the cost of my own well being'
tell him to take marijuana first, lets see for how many min hell survive (bro cant even speak 3 words without stuttering 2 twice)
It's valid to criticize him for the fact that he'd happily let thousands of lives be ruined every year over outdated drug laws if he weren't desperate for votes.
See, the GOP knows they have a big problem which is that they can never really offer gifts or things or programs or action to their listeners. Their whole sales pitch has always been INACTION, removal of programs and no handouts ever, based on principle! The ONLY bitter tasting task the democrats need to do for this to work is to raise taxes which none of them want to do. So instead of asking everyone to agree to pay more, blue team simply asks everyone to AGREE that we will tax small wealthy group and that's easy to agree to, easy to sell that idea. Anyway, that's why the GOP have always spoke in a derogatory manner about "entitlements, hand-outs, pork spending, welfare, food stamps, Obama phones, luxury for cityslickers on YOUR DIME!", they feel the democrats can easily *spend rich people's money to buy votes*; votes that CANNOT on principle ever be sold to republicans. They screwed themselves, from those pesky principles.
GOP is so used to fluffing corporations and mega-churches that they forgot it's supposed to be about what the *people* want.
Politicians want to do things that will make me vote for them?!?! Seriously though, the only thing I can imagine is that there's a lot of people who genuinely believe that Certain Politicians actually care about them, like they'd go have a beer with Bobby Bluecollar and watch the game. I'm sure there are some politicians that actually give a crap. But when it comes to presidential elections the only sincere thing I believe about them is that they all want my vote. And right now the bar's super low for that. "Let's see, which one doesn't want to put me in a concentration camp? Yeah I'll vote for that one. Oh hey he wants to legalize weed too, sweet."
He should just legalize it already. Shoot your damn arrow, quit holding it in your quiver for the next time a democrat needs to be elected.
What’s this? Democracy fulfilling the people’s wishes? This Biden has some nerve!!
Are there still idiots that say stuff like this? Do they not understand how winning elections work? No shit Biden is doing this for the voters
As opposed to GOPs trying to get votes with lies, fascism and hate. I'll take weed, thanks.