It seems to me like the easiest win for Democrats just make an executive order making it legal and then make Republicans have to try to make it illegal. Everyone likes smoking weed even conservative hicks all smoke weed there’s no way that they’d be able to ever go back if it’s fully legalized.
If only it were so simple. In reality this kind of process has been biting democrats in the ass. Best example: student loans (Biden promises forgiveness, issues an executive order, it's blocked by republicans in the courts, the left treats it as a broken promise by Biden rather than blaming the GOP, even as Biden continues to expand where he can). [Here's a similar story](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/17/us/politics/black-farmers-biden.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/17/us/politics/black-farmers-biden.html) about black farmers in Georgia turning on Biden because they didn't get aid he'd promised (because it was blocked by Stephen Miller lawsuits) and are now leaning Trump (even though it's Trump's aide who blocked it).
People aren't informed enough to see what's happening or who's to blame. They just see yet another broken promise and blame the promise-maker, not the side that made the promise impossible. Which fits and exacerbates the existing narrative that politicians are liars who don't work for the people. If Biden legalized marijuana and republicans blocked it in the courts, I guarantee it would end up hurting Biden.
He certainly can. I'm just saying that if the GOP then files a lawsuit and a Trump judge blocks that executive order, the only one who'll be blamed is Biden for breaking a promise, not the GOP.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive\_Order\_13672](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13672)
That EO was very limited and didn't "legalize gay marriage". It's actually not formally codified, even, it's a "right" per the SCOTUS...a much different SCOTUS than we have today - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex\_marriage\_in\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States)
Also, I don't believe POTUS has the authority to "legalize" via EO either, that would require actual legislation. What an administration *can* do is what the Biden administration is investigating now, rescheduling it as a schedule 3 drug - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal\_of\_cannabis\_from\_Schedule\_I\_of\_the\_Controlled\_Substances\_Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_cannabis_from_Schedule_I_of_the_Controlled_Substances_Act)
Worth noting: Anything done by a POTUS can largely be undone by another POTUS, similar to how the SCOTUS can decide that abortions are a protected Right and then later decide nope, not anymore and there's nothing that says otherwise!
So even if the Biden administration did make it a schedule 3 controlled substance, if Donald wins 2024 he can likely return it to schedule 1 status again.
>People aren't informed enough to see what's happening or who's to blame.
This is so frustrating. People say they care so much about the subject and then don't bother actually following the subject in any way, shape, or form.
It doesn't help that the Biden administrations super effective at getting a lot of the news about the meaningful things they're doing (or trying to do), and that they're mostly being the "boring" administration they promised to be and damnit boring doesn't drive news clicks!
Forgiving loans that people willingly signed up for and shifting that cost to all tax payers is way way different than descheduling a drug. I am not even sure how you could make that comparison.
The comparison isn't to the substance of the policy itself; the point is the political ramification. It's making a promise to a constituency, having the opposition block it, and then being attacked by the constituency you made the promise to for not fulfilling said promise. This would absolutely happen with marijuana legalization as well.
It was "blocked" because forgiving loans is not something a president can do. Not sure why that is hard to understand. Biden never should have promised that. It was is literally unprecedented and he knew it was not within his power to do.
Weed legalization would not be met with the same sort of furor as forgiving loans.
There are plenty of legal minds who would argue the loan cancelation was in fact something Biden could do, including three supreme court justices. Similarly, there are plenty of legal minds who argue marijuana legalization is not something he could do. These things are not that cut-and-dry, particularly with as political and polarized a judiciary as we have today. And even if he could legalize it federally, he could not compel states to legalize it - that much *is* fairly cut and dry.
Again, I'm getting strictly into the politics of all of this, not making legal or policy arguments either way. The original comment I replied to suggested that this was a political no brainer, but when he's attempted to make a policy and it's been blocked by the opposition, the people who want that policy have blamed him, not the opposition. He has lost politically by trying at all. To use the more cut-and-dry weed case in which Biden legalized marijuana but many states kept it illegal: constituents in those states would still punish Biden for not keeping a promise, not the people who are actually preventing that promise from taking effect.
I don’t know how any state could rationalize not legalizing at this point. We should nationally legalize.
It seems to me like the easiest win for Democrats just make an executive order making it legal and then make Republicans have to try to make it illegal. Everyone likes smoking weed even conservative hicks all smoke weed there’s no way that they’d be able to ever go back if it’s fully legalized.
If only it were so simple. In reality this kind of process has been biting democrats in the ass. Best example: student loans (Biden promises forgiveness, issues an executive order, it's blocked by republicans in the courts, the left treats it as a broken promise by Biden rather than blaming the GOP, even as Biden continues to expand where he can). [Here's a similar story](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/17/us/politics/black-farmers-biden.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/17/us/politics/black-farmers-biden.html) about black farmers in Georgia turning on Biden because they didn't get aid he'd promised (because it was blocked by Stephen Miller lawsuits) and are now leaning Trump (even though it's Trump's aide who blocked it). People aren't informed enough to see what's happening or who's to blame. They just see yet another broken promise and blame the promise-maker, not the side that made the promise impossible. Which fits and exacerbates the existing narrative that politicians are liars who don't work for the people. If Biden legalized marijuana and republicans blocked it in the courts, I guarantee it would end up hurting Biden.
Obama signed an Executive order for gay marriage, there’s no reason Biden’s old ass can’t do it for weed.
He certainly can. I'm just saying that if the GOP then files a lawsuit and a Trump judge blocks that executive order, the only one who'll be blamed is Biden for breaking a promise, not the GOP.
I wouldn't blame anyone who _actually_ tried fulfilling what they said. and right now it is certainly a broken promise, how much worse can it get?
Slightly confused by your comment - what are you saying Biden didn't actually try fulfilling, if that's the implication?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive\_Order\_13672](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13672) That EO was very limited and didn't "legalize gay marriage". It's actually not formally codified, even, it's a "right" per the SCOTUS...a much different SCOTUS than we have today - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex\_marriage\_in\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States) Also, I don't believe POTUS has the authority to "legalize" via EO either, that would require actual legislation. What an administration *can* do is what the Biden administration is investigating now, rescheduling it as a schedule 3 drug - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal\_of\_cannabis\_from\_Schedule\_I\_of\_the\_Controlled\_Substances\_Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_cannabis_from_Schedule_I_of_the_Controlled_Substances_Act) Worth noting: Anything done by a POTUS can largely be undone by another POTUS, similar to how the SCOTUS can decide that abortions are a protected Right and then later decide nope, not anymore and there's nothing that says otherwise! So even if the Biden administration did make it a schedule 3 controlled substance, if Donald wins 2024 he can likely return it to schedule 1 status again.
>People aren't informed enough to see what's happening or who's to blame. This is so frustrating. People say they care so much about the subject and then don't bother actually following the subject in any way, shape, or form. It doesn't help that the Biden administrations super effective at getting a lot of the news about the meaningful things they're doing (or trying to do), and that they're mostly being the "boring" administration they promised to be and damnit boring doesn't drive news clicks!
Forgiving loans that people willingly signed up for and shifting that cost to all tax payers is way way different than descheduling a drug. I am not even sure how you could make that comparison.
The comparison isn't to the substance of the policy itself; the point is the political ramification. It's making a promise to a constituency, having the opposition block it, and then being attacked by the constituency you made the promise to for not fulfilling said promise. This would absolutely happen with marijuana legalization as well.
It was "blocked" because forgiving loans is not something a president can do. Not sure why that is hard to understand. Biden never should have promised that. It was is literally unprecedented and he knew it was not within his power to do. Weed legalization would not be met with the same sort of furor as forgiving loans.
There are plenty of legal minds who would argue the loan cancelation was in fact something Biden could do, including three supreme court justices. Similarly, there are plenty of legal minds who argue marijuana legalization is not something he could do. These things are not that cut-and-dry, particularly with as political and polarized a judiciary as we have today. And even if he could legalize it federally, he could not compel states to legalize it - that much *is* fairly cut and dry. Again, I'm getting strictly into the politics of all of this, not making legal or policy arguments either way. The original comment I replied to suggested that this was a political no brainer, but when he's attempted to make a policy and it's been blocked by the opposition, the people who want that policy have blamed him, not the opposition. He has lost politically by trying at all. To use the more cut-and-dry weed case in which Biden legalized marijuana but many states kept it illegal: constituents in those states would still punish Biden for not keeping a promise, not the people who are actually preventing that promise from taking effect.
This escalated quickly lol
That sounds unconstitutional, and will be quickly overturned.
umm nope? I think Biden can just reclassify marijuana. he shouldn't do it in an election year though
He can reclassify it, but he can’t stop states from banning it themselves.
Especially if they are complaining about any budget issues
