While the majority of Americans may be pro-legalization only a small minority of these people are single issue voters. Single issue voting is different than the voting defined by our broad political parties. Political parties seek to unite as many people as possible on the largest number of issues possible. However with single issue voting their is only one criteria for determining who you vote for, that single issue. Single Issue voters can have a huge influence on politics. Abortion and Gun control are example of single issues that play a huge part in our political landscape. Single issue voters can have such a huge impact because they will solely base their vote on the one issue that is most important to them regardless of whatever other ideals a candidate may hold. I think the the problem with our current push for legalization is that not enough of the people who are pro-legalization are voting as single issue voters for legalization. We vote based on a number of issues instead of just marijuana laws. While this a good thing in terms of political open-mindedness it makes reform more difficult. If people truly feel that drug policy reform is the most important issue to them then they must act as single issue voters. They have to say like many republicans do for abortion and gun control, if you do not support THIS SINGLE ISSUE then we will not vote for you. If enough people decide to vote as single issue voters the legalization movement could gain even more power and influence. What I see as the problem with this strategy is that the majority of people who see our nations drug policy as insanity are liberal democrats; who do not see it as the single most important issue in determining who they vote for. But hey, i could be wrong about that. Thats my opinion, moving forward into the 2012 presidential election if we really want real change to our nations drug policy we have to become single issue voters. And if no candidate follows us on our single issue we have to nominate our own and show how important this issue is to so many people. Thats just my thinking thanks for reading
thats the one issue i look for, dunno bout ya'll. cuomo came out against MMJ 5 days before the governor election here in NY.. i voted for teh liberal
Good post, + rep. Marijuana legalization/prohibition affects so many aspects of our legal, economic, and social justice systems that its a valid platform for a candidate to work from. I think that legalization is also easy to attach to other issues. Goverment spending on fighting a drug they themselves know to be harmless? Racially disproportionate arrest rates for simple possession? Higher substance abuse rates among queer youth than their straight peers? The fact that legalization is a road to build new production and service industry jobs, especially jobs in a market that's not currently corporately dominated and is therefor more open to minority and women starting small businesses? Because when I hear someone say "I'm for marijuana legalization." I also hear the subtext saying, "I believe in personal choice, a strong agricultural/production based economy, and the general social welfare of everyone."
Just because a majority of Americans say they support marijuana legalization in informal surveys does not mean they vote. Any candidate who speaks frequently for the legalization of marijuana would be smeared into the stone age by their opponents advertising campaigns. Also I dont see someone getting a major political party nomination if they are a major marijuana advocate, unless they advocate against it. And be realistic on a 3rd party candidate winning, if it happens it will be in the very distant future. Id say the key to getting a president into office that supports legalization would be to win over support from key states with many electoral votes, such as California, Florida, Texas, New York, and several battleground states. Aside from Cali there arnt many key states in favor of legalization, or even mmj.
Seconded. Only person who actually pays any attention to the Constitution, which is supposed to govern our government lol
They should make people prove they voted to get get tax deductions,.. sorry watching a lot of Stossel lately.