@Dark UltraValia

And, it's a human rights issue — agency over the mind — the right to expand one's consciousness. The reason mind expansion terrifies modern authoritarian governments is that it brings feelings of harmonious connectivity to nature and fellowman, in an empathetic and communal sense. It quickens our essential natures.

That harmonious communal concern represents the Left edge of the political spectrum.

But, the US is one nation that does not have a loyal opposition party on the Left, which comes as no surprise to foreign observers who have noted this for years. It explains to them, however, why a wealthy nation can have wide-spread abject poverty and hunger, and why a sizable population dies of medical neglect each year.

The Left of the political spectrum is the shepherd of Society as a whole. The Right of the political spectrum is the privilege and liberty of the Individual. The Democratic Party has always been center right on the spectrum. To my knowledge, the US has never had a viable party on the Left of the political spectrum. Without that loyal opposition, you have nothing resembling a Democracy.

The continuous surrender of Democratic leadership to Right Wing tropes — for nearly a century — clearly demonstrates that the People (workers, labour, middle and lower classes, shepherds and caregivers of the people and the earth) are not represented in the style of a Democracy. Like all bad democracies, US elections have very low participation.

The American people have spent nearly a century in a fever dream of anti-communism fear. This was deliberately designed to poison the people against ever forming a "Left" in the United States. That is the chief reason why the Democratic Party cannot be reformed. The Oligarchs are confident secure in that fact. This was bolstered by watching how easily the population fell for the preposterous Russian Hoax.

Whenever significant legislation is passed that serves the people, it is done at a point of looming crisis to protect both parties against the wrath of the People. The People have been mollified by these scraps that have been thrown down to them from the table of State, but this is not a dignified existence for the most enlightened of humans.

Legalized marijuana is one such scrap. Like all rights given to the People, constitutionally or otherwise, this right does not inherently "belong" to them. It can be revoked at any time, just as the right to privacy has been. So, the Left will scramble under the table and mobilize to protect this right and that right. Meanwhile, the significant issues that define their futures are unfolding out of sight as the US military continues its insane march toward Empire... and its doom.

Thus, I think a reminder of the big picture is always a good thing.

When the People get serious about a government that that is designed to work for them, then they will form one. Or better yet, they will coalesce into multistate regions and design a model government that represents the will of all the people. Then they will referendum themselves into autonomy, and then sovereignty, which is the traditional way it is accomplished. This is the exercise of an overarching human right known the Right to Self-Determination. In 1948, this right was unanimously ratified by the General Assembly of the United Nations in Paris

#6 Succession - a number of people or things sharing a specified characteristic and following one after the other.

Secession is what the Southern States did back in the mid 19th century and I still occasionally think that perhaps we should have just let them go.

@snoopydawg

And go for jury nullification I like your idea. The money spent on the drug war has a good return value. Private prisons, assets forfeiture and job security. But money spent on trials is a different matter. Especially if the juries think that it's a waste of time.

That's why I support the Fully Informed Jury Association. Every American needs to know that as a juror, (s)he has the inherent right to refuse to convict, even if the prosecution has met its burden and proven its case. That's why we have juries. It's the jury's job to make sure that justice is done, not just the satisfaction of the black-letter law. (Bench trials suffice for the latter concern.)

source

#7

I like your idea. The money spent on the drug war has a good return value. Private prisons, assets forfeiture and job security. But money spent on trials is a different matter. Especially if the juries think that it's a waste of time.