This is a smart move in the City of Washington to decriminalize marijuana in Washington. Instead of arresting people for simply usage or possession of marijuana. And then basically ruining their professional careers and making it very difficult for them to get a good job. And as a result someone with this type of marijuana arrest has this on their record for good. Making it very difficult for them to get a good job. And as a result they end up on public assistance because they do not make enough money to pay their own bills. Instead of having a good job and paying into public assistance.
Washington should go even further than this and legalize marijuana, but regulate it and tax it like alcohol, which would allow for them to lower their taxes on everyone else, especially the middle class and employers. And you would see even more economic development in Washington and the marijuana industry would be part of that. But other business’s as well, because the taxes on them would be lower if they invested in Washington.
Washington should regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol.
1. Twenty-one or over to use, possess or sell marijuana in the City of Washington.
2. People under twenty-one caught with marijuana or trying to sell it would pay a fine on that or a short-term jail sentence, but not sentenced to prison for it.
3. Require license’s of dealers, users and seller of marijuana in Washington.
4. Tax marijuana just like alcohol and use that money to pay for needed public services. Instead of having to use current tax revenue to prosecute and enforce current anti-marijuana laws.
5. Strict regulations similar to alcohol like not being able to drive while high to use as an example. That would come with being locked up in jail if caught and convicted.
This would be a much smarter approach to dealing with a drug that has similar side-effects as alcohol. Instead of trying to prohibit people from doing to themselves what they want to do. Which is why alcohol prohibition didn’t work. Trying to stop people from what they want to do with their own lives.
What President Obama and Democrats need to do is to switch the national political focus to the economy. On issues like unemployment, Unemployment Insurance, a minimum wage increase, the income gap, infrastructure investment, energy, immigration to use as examples. And all of these issues have something to do with the American economy. Manufacturing would be another example all things that create American jobs in America. And then they need to have an agenda that can move people to supporting them.
House Democrats as well as the President already have this and speak to these issues on a regular basis. Democrats do this and 2014 is not about ObamaCare because people are now getting health insurance and not losing it. And enjoying the benefits of their health insurance and we are starting to see sings of that. The 2014 mid-terms could be very successful for them and they’ll be able to at least hold on to the Senate and perhaps even make gains in the House as well.
If 2014 is basically nothing but ObamaCare and President Obama’s popularity rating continues to sag, or stays roughly flat then Republicans will probably eat up Democrats at the elections. And Democrats will struggle just to recruit good candidates and raise enough funds to protect vulnerable incumbents. And the Republican Party will have huge year adding to their House majority. And probably winning back the Senate which is what Democrats need to stop most of all.
Is anyone surprised by this. We knew A-Rod was going to get hit big for use of drugs that are illegal in Major League Baseball. And what A-Rod has been doing what the last six months or so is trying to buy time in hope that he would be bailed out. And have some shot of playing in 2014. If you are dumb enough to illegal drugs in MLB, then you’re dumb enough to get caught and more than deserve the time that you get for them. He knows about his physical health and the state of his playing career better than anyone. And what a one year suspension could do to him in his late thirties. Especially since his career has been in decline the last few years anyway. And yet he takes this big risk with the rest of his career and will now pay the price for getting caught.
With the weak December jobs report President Obama should be calling for a huge infrastructure investment bill somewhere in the hundreds of billions of dollars. And even call for a National Infrastructure Bank that could finance a lot of these projects through the private sector. And either have his own Transportation Department draft the bill or push Congress to do it. Especially the Democratic Senate and have them start to draft this bill and they could probably find Senate Republican support for it and see if they can pass a bill like this by some point in the spring.2014 could be a great year for the American economy if it is used to rebuild America which would create hundreds of thousands of jobs, if not millions of good jobs. In the construction industry. As well as our manufacturing industry building and selling the supplies to do these jobs.
The Affordable Care Act even though health insurance won’t be expanded to all Americans even when fully implemented and that is one of the weakness’s of it, which is why I was in favor of the public option when it came out as well as making Medicaid universal for everyone eligible and fully funded and self-financed for everyone in the country who is eligible for it. But the great thing about the ACA is that it is exactly not what the Tea Party and Libertarians says it is. That Social Democrats in America wanted. Which is that government takeover of at least the health insurance system.
Expanding health insurance to millions of Americans who do not have it, but allowing for them to decide where they get their health insurance. Because despite what the Tea Party and Libertarians say it is, this is not a government takeover of health care that Social Democrats in America wanted, but the opposite. It builds on the private health insurance model while fixing the weakness’s of that system as it gets to consumer protections. That millions of new Americans now getting health insurance and millions of Americans not losing their health insurance because of the new consumer protections in the ACA.
The Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats made a smart calculation in 2009 when they started pushing for heath care reform. And knew that there was a limit to what Americans wanted government doing for them. Especially the Federal Government and a big reason why they pushed the consumer protections in the law so heavily. As well as that old line, “if you like your health insurance, you can keep it.” And whether that is true or not that was big key to their message.
That they didn’t want Americans to think that Uncle Sam was taking over the health insurance system. Or the entire health care system that what they wanted to do was to expand health insurance through the private system. And create a public option that Americans could decide for themselves to choose or not. But again it would be their choice and not Uncle Sam making that decision for them. And as badly as they played the politics and failed to get Americans behind that message and it cost them the House of Representatives in 2010 as a result, that is the health care plan they were pushing and ran on from day one.
Lane Kenworthy was pushing the idea of social democracy in Foreign Affairs today. That ObamaCare is the sign that America is moving towards social democracy and we are going to transform America into Scandinavia. And create this huge centralized superstate known as the super or welfare state. That we are going to be transform from a Jeffersonian Federal Republic in the form of a liberal democracy which is different from a social democracy. Liberal democracy is about choice, freedom the ability for people to govern their own lives.
Social democracy is about having a large centralized central government to provide the basic human services that the capitalist economic system comes up short in providing. We are still that Jeffersonian Federal Republic and will remain that for an indefinite future. Because the younger generations Gen-X and Gen-Y, do not expect and want government trying to do everything for them. And tend to be more liberal to libertarian with their social and economic views. Instead of progressive to socialist. Which is why social democracy in America is still considered Far-Left.
For politicians and politics to be successful in America no matter from which political philosophy it is they are coming from, the people in power have to know where the country is politically and what is politically possible. The Obama Administration knew that which is why single payer Medicare For All was never on the table. And even considered because of the political backlash that would’ve come from the Right and Independents as well as some Democrats. Democrats paid a heavy price for the bill they got which was just building off of the private health insurance system. With the public option being pulled out because of some vulnerable Democratic senators.
This really should be lessons for today’s so-called Progressives. I’m looking for a word to describe someone who has a big centralize government program, policy or new tax to solve everyone’s problems for them. Which is how people who take the approach that if government is taking care of your economic needs for you, somehow you are not living in poverty anymore. Which is pure nonsense of course, but that is how people with this type of political approach tend to think. Socialist comes to mind and certainly Social Democrat because people of this mindset tend to be democratic. But Socialist might be too simplistic for people of this mindset and Social Democrat well that is two words and not one.
1. Strong Growing Economy
Look, Liberals already know how to reduce poverty and if you stay on this course you dramatically reduce poverty to the point where our poverty numbers are somewhere where Canada and Europe’s are, which is around ten percent. You need a strong economy for everyone where not just jobs are being created with low unemployment. But a lot of good jobs and without that even for people on public assistance who’ve just finished their education or job training, they won’t be able to find a good job for the most part and may now need to get on Unemployment Insurance.
2. Short-Term Cash Assistance
For people on Welfare Insurance so these people can pay their bills in the short-term as they are improving themselves and getting ready to join the workforce full-time with a good job. And the LBJ War on Poverty got the cash assistance part right. Actually the FDR New Deal did that in the 1930s. And President Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich got the short-term cash assistance part right in the 1990s with Welfare to Work. So people on Welfare get the message and are motivated to finish their education and prepare themselves to go to work.
3. Education and Job Training
If you are on Welfare Insurance and you do not even have a high school diploma, you are going to have a hard time holding down a fast-food job let alone finding yourself a good job that pays all of your bills. And high school dropouts are not uncommon for people on public assistance. So for those without a high diploma or GED, they need to get that. And then they are going to need to take college courses or be in job training programs to get themselves marketable vocational skills. So they have the skills that they need to get themselves a good job and be able to hold on to it. If they already have their high school diploma, well that is good, but now it is time to be in community college. Or a vocational program to further their education.
4. Job Placement-
Last, but definitely not least job placement, but being placed in a good full-time job. That pays them enough to cover their own cost of living expenses and make them able to leave public assistance all together. And one of the beauties of Welfare to Work is that it combined all four of these factors. And we actually did see in the late 1990s and early 2000s and since people who use to be on Welfare going to work with good full-time jobs and a lot of them managing a business. Or even owning their own business which are real rags to riches stories. That if you call yourself a Progressive, you should be celebrating and not trying to put down.
We know what works in reducing poverty in America. We got that down to actually thirteen percent during the Bill Clinton Administration with polices like this. Then Governor Bill Clinton ran on welfare reform when he was running for president in 1991-92. Republicans especially governors had similar ideas in the early and mid 1990s as well. Actually then Governor Mike Dukakis ran on the same welfare reform ideas when he ran for president in 1988. So we know what to do and Liberal Democrats have supported these proposals for almost thirty years now. It is just a matter of getting back to this approach and having a Republican Party that gets back to their roots. Instead of just saying government has no role here.
The Democratic path to victory in 2014. It’s the economy stupid and make 2014 the Democratic economic vision vs. the Republican economic vision.
Middle out bottom up economics that is about expanding economic freedom for everyone and reducing government dependence. Based on rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, a national energy policy based on using all the country’s natural resources. Comprehensive immigration reform so we bring our illegal immigrants out of the shadows paying their share of taxes. And so Americans do not have to pay as much in taxes. Education and job training for our low-skilled workforce and unemployed workers so they can live in economic freedom as well.
The Democrats should label the Republican economic vision as trickle down economics. That if the wealthy are just doing even better than they are now, that could somehow benefit everyone else even if the middle class and everyone else is paying for wealthy’s prosperity. And what the Republicans really want to do besides talk about nothing other than the Affordable Care Act, is to weaken consumer protections and making it harder for workers to unionize and collectively bargain.
That is how Democrats get off of ObamaCare and on to something where they have the upper hand. And be able to force Republicans to talk about things they do not want to and try to get them explain why cutting additional taxes for the wealthy and regulations for corporations and deficit reduction especially in areas that help create jobs like in infrastructure, somehow helps the economy. Which is hard to find many people outside of the Tea Party wing of the GOP who actually takes that seriously.
Here’s an idea that even Republicans could support especially since one of them proposed it when he ran for president a couple of years ago. And still talks about this and is in favor of it. That being former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and current CNN commentator.Pass a twelve month Unemployment Insurance extension, but with that would come a voucher lets say to pay for classes at a community college or a vocational school or some private job seminar. Where these workers could get additional skills and learn about other fields and use this to get themselves a good job and get back to work sooner. Instead of just collecting their Unemployment Insurance and continuing to look for work, but with little or no success.
Gregory Mankiew seems to be arguing in his New York Times column that the best way to help the working poor is to take from the economically successful that is the middle class and not the struggling middle class. But Americans making lets say seventy-thousand-dollars and up per year. And the upper class those making lets five-hundred-thousand-dollars a year or more to take care of the less-fortunate. There a couple of big problems with that and not so much how socialist of an idea that it is.
That somehow government would decide what people need to live well in life. But the fact that we would be discouraging people to be productive in America because if they are, a lot of that money would go to people who aren’t very productive as far as what they are able to produce for themselves. But on the other side now we are encouraging people not to be productive because if they aren’t, the economically successful in America will be forced to take care of them.
Gregory Mankiew also seems to be saying that instead of expanding education and job training opportunities to the low-skilled working poor that we should instead just financially take care of them instead. Because education and job training and are more long-term solutions that will take time. And these workers need financial relief now. And the education and job training solutions aren’t politically possible right now.
Well if you are not familiar with the current makeup of Congress. We have a Republican House of Representatives as part of one half of a very divided Congress. With Democrats controlling the Senate with a Democratic president. And even if we had a united Democratic Congress with a Democratic president, there still wouldn’t be enough Democrats to support these more social democratic policies. And there would be enough Republican Senators to block them in Congress.
So instead of arguing for what is politically possible right now, how about we instead come up with a plan that actually solves the problems. And then come up with a political coalition in Congress that would support the plan.
1. We increase the minimum wage and move towards more of a living wage. But not quite getting there with these workers probably still needing public assistance to support themselves. But part of that minimum wage increase comes with educational and job training opportunities for these workers. So they can actually get themselves a good job instead and move from public assistance. We go from $7.25 and hour to ten-dollars and hour within two years and even twelve dollars within five-years. And index it for inflation so the purchasing power of the minimum wage keeps up with inflation. With a thirty-percent tax break for small employers so their payroll costs don’t go up too high. As well as another tax break for all employers small and large to train their low-skilled employees. So they can move up in their companies.
2. Expanding educational and job training opportunities for our low-skilled workers. And put in a requirement for everyone on public assistance whether they are working or not for them to finish their education. And if that means they haven’t finished high school, they would need to do that. And for those workers with high school diplomas, they would have the opportunity and be expected to go to a community college or vocational school. To get themselves the skills that they need to do get themselves a good job.
3. Requiring employers who pay low-wages to pay payroll taxes that goes to pay for Medicaid, Welfare Insurance, Public Housing and Food Assistance. So these employers would no longer be able to pass the cost of living of these employees on to average taxpayers.
4. If you want to talk long-term. That means education reform and having a public education system where everyone can get themselves a good education. No matter the income level of their parents. And that means having public school choice so students are no longer required to go to school based on where they live, but what is the best school for them and their parents would be able to make that decision. Funding public schools based on need and not where they are located. And that means additional resources to fund public schools and not just using property taxes. And paying teachers based on how well their students are learning and not how long they’ve been teaching. And we could do this when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is extended
This debate shouldn’t be about what is politically possible at the current moment in time. But what we should be doing as a country to address these problems and then finding the people in Congress. And the people who are running for Congress both House and Senate who would support these policies.
Then U.S. Senator John Kerry when he was up to be U.S. Secretary of State in I believe January or February 2013 during his Senate confirmation hearing was asked a question about the so-called War on Drugs as I call it. And Senator Kerry said something to the effect that it is not a real war. That words have meaning and if this was a real war we would surely be fighting it differently. I’m paraphrasing what he said he, but I’m pretty close. Keep in mind John Kerry is a Vietnam War veteran and from the Vietnam Generation, Baby Boom Generation even. So this is a man who knows what a real war is because he’s been in one and fought successfully in one for his country and the men and women he served with.
What Senator Kerry said about the War on Drugs is exactly my point. This is not a real war, but a big fat label that anyone fluent with the American English language can understand. What the so-called War on Drugs is, is a campaign against illegal narcotics in America. What the United States Government views as illegal and dangerous narcotics. This is not a War on Drugs because alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and many other drugs that have similar if not worst effects than marijuana are legal and could easily be viewed as narcotics.
Imagine if we had a real War on Drugs in America and I think this could probably be a satire or a comedy or a movie. All drugs in America would be illegal. We would have the military roaming all over the country and occupying every street in America. To make sure that no one is taking a drug that is at least could be viewed as dangerous. If not using the military to make sure that no one are using drugs period anywhere in the country. And would be arrested for what would be viewed as unhealthy behavior to themselves.
Just to be clear, we do not have a real War on Drugs in America. Marijuana is illegal, but still consumed all over the country. We have millions of Americans who drink like, excuse the expression like Irish sailors just coming home from the war. We smoke a lot of tobacco, we eat too much junk food that all have things in them that aren’t healthy for us. And yet it is marijuana, heroin, cocaine meth that are illegal even though a lot of our legal drugs are all worst than marijuana and perhaps some of the others as well. End Pot Prohibition: Uruguay’s Legal Cannabis Trade Documentary
“President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine has to confront the possibility of losing its dignity or risking the loss of a key partner as it figures out how to respond to a U.S. peace proposal to end Russia-Ukraine conflict. (Produced by Elaine Carroll).” Source:Associated Press with a look at President Volodmyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. […]
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