ACHTUNG: The following is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.
There will be three state-wide ballot proposals in the Nov. 6 election. I support all three without reservation.
Proposal 1 — To legalize recreational marijuana, regulate it like alcohol.
I’ve been advocating this for a long time, not because I want to get high. I gave up the evil weed more than 40 years ago. I enjoyed it and found it to be less harmful than alcohol. Even worse, when I learned how relatively inoffensive it is, I began to wonder why we were lied to about it.
As Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein: “Follow the money.”
The pharmaceutical, alcohol, drug warrior and prison industries are all vehemently opposed to legalizing pot. They all stand to lose a lot of money, some of it public.
I am sick and tired of pouring taxpayers’ money down that toilet known as the “War on Drugs,” which was launched in 1971 by President Richard M. Nixon and has been a colossal failure. It has resulted in ruining non-violent peoples’ lives, many of them people of color. It has resulted in wasting law enforcement officers’ time, which could have been better spent dealing with much more toxic drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and opioids.
I am aware of the potential of adding to the tragedies when people use and operate motor vehicles. There is a downside to everything, but there is no justice in legalizing alcohol and criminalizing marijuana at the same time. All drunken and drugged driving should be made illegal.
Don’t tell me about Colorado. I’ve been there several times to visit my son and I’ve asked him and his wife about pot in that state. They’ve said there’s really no difference from what went before, because it’s properly regulated.
Proposal 2 — To turn over redistricting to a more non-partisan panel
This one is a real no-brainer. We have allowed winning politicians once every 10 years to draw up districts that favor them in holding on to their power. So it’s simple: We have legalized gerrymandering.
Some say, “To the victors go the spoils.” I counter, “Let’s play the game fairly. Let’s stop having it rigged.”
Proposal 3 — To allow people to register to vote automatically when they renew their driver’s licenses.
Now you know, as well as I do, that when you make something easy to do, people will do it. Curbside recycling has helped the uptick in that process as a result. Limiting access to abortion and creating roadblocks for such services have conversely helped the pro-life movement.
If we truly, as we so often say, want people to exercise their right to vote, let’s make it easier for them to do so. I’d like to see it made even easier with no-excuse mail-in voting and eliminating that very small window of election time to a workday from from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voting is one of the very few exercises of power that people still have. If we are a democracy or a constitutional republic, let’s open it up to as many as possible.
Power to the people.
As usual, the author takes the extreme liberal viewpoint in his responses to the three ballot proposals.
Advocating the legalization of pot is asinine. It is the gateway drug to all others and he and others know it. He is disingenious when he relates others in CO say the legalization of pot use in CO has not increased accidental vehicle deaths
It has increased them significantly. Google the articles by CO sources and law enforcement officials in the state.
Turning redistricting over to non-partisan people? Sounds good until you think about it (but liberals never let thinking get in the way of feelings). Where do you find these non-partisan folks to draw up the district boundaries? Who will do the selecting of people to do the job? The present way is not ideal, but just putting more politics into the system is not the answer.
And the last one is terribly stupid. You don’t have to be a citizen to get a driver’s license. You should be a proven citizen of the United States and resident of the state to be a bonified, legal voter. This has potential and positively probable fraud and abuse written all over it.
The author lives in a dream world the rest of us don’t inhibit. I realize all the potheads will love and support Prop. 1, but dont be fooled, this will cost thousands of lives on the highways. Alcohol abuse exists now, do we want the toll to go higher adding pot to the mix?
All 3 proposals should receive a “No” vote on your ballot in November.
There’s a fourth ballot proposal regarding early childhood education. I support voting YES on all four proposals. That tired old “gateway drug” argument put forth by DTOM is ridiculous, like saying that all beer drinkers started with milk. There pairing, sure, but is there causation? What evidence is there, except a tired cliche?
Clean up redistricting.
Support early childhood education.
Encourage voting.
Stop with the silly – and harmful – prohibition of marijuana.
The ballot proposals are significant and are important enough that the MI GOP fought all three, challenging petitions right up to the 11th hour.
I am not opposed to the use of marijuana for medical reasons where a medical marijuana card is applied for and issued. However, I don’t believe the State of Michigan has the infrastructure in place to adequately monitor the purity or the potency of the product and what a seller could add to “improve” the smoking experience (see menthol cigarettes). With alcohol we know the content by proof in liquor and alcohol percentage for beer, cider and wine.
I’m also not happy about the local option because the arguments about legalization can make recreational use of marijuana legal in one municipality or county and not another. Make recreational marijuana legal statewide or we will see selective enforcement by grandstanding politicians and elected law enforcement.
Recreational marijuana can become a lucrative voluntary tax revenue stream that politicians love, but I don’t think our state has done the groundwork to make recreational marijuana sales sufficiently regulated at this time. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future with more work in November 2018. It’s putting the cart before the horse. I’m voting No on Proposal 1
Proposal 2 is a long time coming. It may not be a perfect solution but what we have seen in our state shows how effective computer-aided gerrymandering can be and how it can draw outlandish districts.
MI 6 is a congressional map that makes some sense. However, when the districts are redrawn like MI 2 got redrawn putting Walker, Grandville and a portion of Allegan County to help Bill Huizenga while taking those areas from MI 3 and adding Calhoun and part of Barry County to add the population that was lot to MI 2 its clear who was getting favored treatment even within the GOP controlled legislature. When you see how MI 9 gets chopped up skipping over Troy, Farmington Hills and Sterling Heights, it’s bad. The worst is MI 14 looks like a ribbon including a portion of Downriver goes up to Detroit, heads west, chops off a portion of Livonia and heads north to include Pontiac. Same goes for MI state rep and state senate districts. There you can see how MI House District 76 was drawn to literally circle Grand Rapids from Walker, excludes East Grand Rapids then widens again. Voting Yes on Proposal 2.
Like Proposal 2, Proposal 3 is a long time coming. Why some in politics think the best way to win elections is to reduce the number of people who can vote, that practice is counter productive to a democratic form of government. While Proposal 3 is not perfect, it provides an efficient way to register voters using existing database technology and removes one more step to participate in elections. Everyone may not have a driver’s license when they become 18 but Proposal 3 should add younger people to voter rolls. Will be voting Yes on Proposal 3.