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Past Presidents and political campaigns found they could often ignore the public’s desire for marijuana policy reform, party because of bipartisan support for the War on Drugs. But the growth of the internet means that now the issue simply will not go away.
Every time the Obama administration gives Americans the ability to use the internet to indicate what policies they want to be debated more, the issue of marijuana reform has dominated.
- Right after winning the 2008 election the Obama team on Change.gov allowed Americans to vote for questions they wanted the president elect to answer. A marijuana legalization question easily got enough votes to be ranked #1, and the marijuana question dominated the top slots. The Obama team basically ignored the issue.
- In March of 2009 the Obama administration allowed people to submit and vote for questions for a live internet town hall. Again a marijuana legalization question dominated the voting.
- In January 2011 Obama teamed up with Youtube to have another open question and answer session. All of the top 10 Youtube questions with the most votes were about marijuana reform.
- In Jule 2011, possibly because the Obama team was getting annoyed with marijuana dominating every open question system that allowed voting, they held a Twitter town hall. Despite there being no voting, indicators show that marijuana reform questions were the most popular with people engaged in the town hall, but the question was not put to the president.
- Just a few days ago Obama team started a new “We the People” petition program that allows Americans to directly petition the White House online. This time a marijuana legalization petition was the first petition to pass the 5,000 threshold, and it is still the most popular petition on the site.
Marijuana reform is an issue many Americans, especially younger Americans, care deeply about, but it is often totally ignored by our political system. Now the internet has provided young Americans with a tool they can use to force the issue into our national political discourse.
As the 2012 race starts to heat up, expect the issue of marijuana reform to continue to dominate any attempts by Obama to use the internet to have two way communications with voters. Thanks to the internet, there is no way Obama will be able to ignore the issue, especially if his campaign is going to be focused on getting young voters to turnout for him.
19 Comments
Obama could breeze into re-election with MJ legalization. Generate Tax Revenue and modernize a corrupt insider’s money game – a Ponzi Scheme.
The Securities Modernization Act destroyed the Worldwide economy.
The American Marijuana Modernization and Legalization Act would improve the economy.
Obama can’t do it. He is beholden to the people that made him. Large-Scale Marijuana Growers and Dealers, The War On Drugs, and The Private Prison Industrial Complex.
If marijuana was decriminalized, the fascist police state that is now America would lose one of their most effective tools for removing from society any young person who is a threat to the corporate fascist state, by virtue of the possibility of thinking freely.
Illegal pot is also a massive subsidy to the for-profit prison industry, and also to the alcoholic beverage industry. Obama can’t win without the youngsters showing up once again, so a light bulb might turn on in Barry’s brain, but I wouldn’t hold my breath, like I do after taking a hit from an illegal joint.
Any numbers on what legal taxed government regulated pot could bring in to save SS and Medicare?
We need polling on that issue Would Americans favor legal pot if it were taxed by the Feds and all the money went to save SS and Medicare?
Link SS and Medicare to pot and we got an issue even many GOPers would support.
How many Jobs would pot create if only American pot were legal? What would those jobs pay if we link pot to job creation we win.
If Farmers could grow pot they could make money and not need government help which means lower taxes for the rest of us!
Obama is not at all interested in the cares and opinions of people who are not multi-billionaires. If he can’t buy and lie his way to reelection he will lose. The people who own him are opposed to ending the war on drugs or legalizing marijuana and that will never change.
Any bets Florida with more legal Oxy mills than McDonalds in some counties is against legal pot? Any bets the drug companies want to keep serving people addictive pain pills?
The PTB cannot end the endless wear on drugs as, then, too many things would unravel, just as you suggest, KT.
If reason came to this issue, then people would insist that it come to other issues …
Also, thousands of political careers have been launched on the backs of those whom this originally racist war has tried to destroy; Anslinger, an Altoona PA native, premised his original fear-mongering on white fears of blacks … under the influence of the “Killer Weed”.
DW
We win this fight by pointing out in every post on the subject that legal pot means Jobs, it means more money for SS and Medicare it means nolonger having to pay taxes to help farmers and thus lower taxes for the rest of us.
We show a pictures of several famous successful people who admit they smoke pot and say this is you brain on pot.
We show pictures of Rush Limbaugh saying stupid hate shit just what stupid hate shit he said should be an FDL contest and say this is your brain on legal oxy that the drug companies want you to use instead of pot.
Besides, were pot legalized, it would undermine the much of the madness in Mexico, which most of the world wishes would happen and which they wouold applaud, except for the US, of course …
Can’t have reason, now can we?
DW
Hell, there is probably a way to run our cars on it. I probably wouldn’t care about going anywhere then, anyway, so I’d be saving money and gas……it’s all good……. :)
If it isn’t worse than whiskey it shouldn’t be a crime, or offense of any kind.
The most important aspect of this issue is that the policy is dishonest,bigoted, maladaptive and unjust.
And not changing the policy validates and legitimizes the pathological thinking of our policy making in general.
It will change…eventually..because the voters will change it..
Why waste time on this? Obama will never listen to us.
Put your energy into taking back the Democratic Party or working for a viable Progressive Third Party. But stop wasting time trying to get Obama to pay attention to us.
Pot will grow almost anywhere, under harsh conditions. Many people who can’t even keep a potted plant on their window sill alive, could become successful pot farmers. The weed infested hillside that is my back yard could become productive farm land. Also, more pot smokers = fewer people who want to kill other people. This is a win-win: fewer wars, more farming jobs.
There is still too much fear associated with legalization. Obama won’t touch it. It is still political death to advocate for legalization. After the election, maybe but probably not even then.
There’s too much money at stake for the PTB and too much fear in the electorate. Keep pushing but don’t expect it to do any good.
“Thanks to the internet, there is no way Obama will be able to ignore the issue, especially if his campaign is going to be focused on getting young voters to turnout for him.”
Yeah, Obama will just promise them anything and won’t even give them Arpege.
PUHLEEZE.
Obama has already said the states are making policy on medical pot..
For states to make policy, the federal law must be nullified, so he should be pressed on that.
Allowing states to make their own policy is all he needs to do.
The polls show slow but steady progress towards legalization..46% in California, and similar numbers in Colorado, Nevada, Washington and Alaska.
With the oldest voters dying off, and continued funding and publicity for reform, it will happen.
For me, Obama’s reactionary response to our (the MJ relegalization community’s) outreach to him–the snickering, snide response that he didn’t think pot would help the economy–was an early sign of how badly we’d been misled by this DINO corporatist:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/obama-takes-pot-legalizat_n_179563.html
As long as he’s in power, there will be no progress. Time for somebody to declare a primary challenge against him.
Dan Choi, who chained himself to the White House fence while Gay Inc allowed Obama to dither away the Lame-Duck Congress, would probably differ with you. The way to get Obama to pay attention is to make it too awkward and embarrassing to him NOT to pay attention.