Dude. It's like, wo, man. I am so proud to live in the Northwest. In addition to being the most Unchurched region in the country, in addition to Seattle's law which will penalize thse who throw recyclables in with the trash, Seattle voters required that police downgrade marijana offenses to the lowest law-enforcement priority. It is high time (ha!) voters in other regions took similar actions- you other states with initiative proccesses obviously have better odds than those who must battle the usual legislative gridlock, though you probably also have less of the usual right-wing 'slash-taxes-shrink-government-public-services-be-damned' initiatives which have gutted the WA budget.
posted by Lee @ 9:27 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I want to move there! That sounds terrific. No recyclables in trash. And I think that the War On Drugs is a thinly veiled distraction.
The War on Drugs...reminds me of The War on Illegal Immigration, which Bush is too smart to declare despite the clamoring of many of his supporters to 'militarize' the Mexican border. Sadly, they don't understand that it is the globalization of labor- the Wal Mart model- which is exacerbating the income gap among Americans, who have become more profuctive and yet have less disposable income.
Drugs, immigration...Both unstoppable due to the pressure of supply and the suck of demand. Do you just deregulate and let drugs and immigrants flow unregulated? Certainly not. But trying to stop either would be like trying to ban coffee.
The other thing about the War on Drugs is that the laws have made it something of a racket to go after small-time dealers; at the local level, departments can boost their revenues due to the fact that property used in connection with drug crimes can be seized and sold (read: houses and cars). Add to this mandatory minimum sentencing, and notice that "security" is a growth market in the USA- building more prisons despite the fact that violent crime is down... it gets downright creepy to know that there is a profit industry in jailing potheads and brown people. Revolution, or another bag of Spicy Cheetoes at least!
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