A few weeks ago, I reported that the White House was giving the American people a greater voice. They started an online petition site, where the most popular petitions would be brought directly to the President.
Well, round one is here, and the number one most pressing issue for the American people? Legalizing marijuana.
The site, called We the People, lists the most popular petitions. Those with 5000 or more signatures within a 30 day period are taken to the White House for consideration. Here are the petitions that currently have more than 5000 signatures, in order.
1. Legalize and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. (35,644 signatures)
2. Abolish the TSA, and use its monstrous budget to fund more sophisticated, less intrusive counter-terrorism intelligence, (20,978 signatures)
3. Call an Investigation into allegations of prosecutorial & judicial misconduct in the case of Shalom Rubanshkin. (17,780 signatures)
4. Edit the Pledge of Allegiance to remove the phrase “Under God.” (13,168 signatures)
5. Allow Industrial Hemp to be Grown in the U.S. Once Again. (11,127 signatures)
6. Direct the patent office to cease issuing software patents. (10,842 signatures)
7. Legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. (10,656 signatures)
8. Stop interfering with state marijuana legalization efforts. (9,998 signatures)
9. End the destructive, wasteful and counterproductive “War on Drugs.” (9,267 signatures)
10. Remove “In God We Trust” from currency. (8,795 signatures)
11. Restore democracy by ending corporate personhood. (8,894 signatures)
12. Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. (8,389 signatures)
13. Grant voters the ability to vote for the President of the United States by dissolving the electoral college. (7,992 signatures)
14. Stop animal homelessness at its roots. (7,679 signatures)
15. Repeal the Patriot Act. (7,388 signatures)
16. Reallocate defense funds to NASA. (7,066 signatures)
17. Remove tax exemption from churches and allow them to apply like a non-profit organization. (6,961 signatures)
18. Give states the freedom to establish their own marijuana laws. (6,414 signatures)
19. Forgive student loan debt to stimulate the economy and usher in a new era of innovation, entrepreneurship and prosperity. (6,414 signatures)
20. Recognize the men and women who are occupying Wall Street. (6,062 signatures)
21. End the Patriot Act. (5,972 signatures)
22. Propose legislation that would make all federal election days national holidays to increase voter turnout. (5,284 signatures)
23. protect consumers, create jobs and generate revenue by licensing and regulating online poker. (5,062 signatures)
24. Formally acknowledge and extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race – Disclosure. (5,035 signatures)
25. End discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. (so far, at 4,187 signatures, fewer than needed to reach the President’s desk)
- An end to the wars
- Single payer health care
- Economic reform
- The protection of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
- Taxes on the wealthy
- Bringing back American jobs
- Ending poverty
- Social justice
- Prosecution of the Bush administration for war crimes
- An end to religious interference
- Green energy
- A clean environment
- Stronger unions
- Greater financial regulations
- Greater food regulations
- Justice department investigation of Justices, Thomas, Roberts and Scalia.
- Close GITMO (although the President was blocked by the Senate)
- The end to capital punishment
- The reversal of DOMA did make the list, but with only 8,400 signatures at publication
- Ending corporate personhood made the list with under 9,000 signatures, although that is outside the White House’s jurisdiction
Also, legal Marijuana would put allot of law enforcers out of business. Cops, investigators, undercover, and so on. Medical Marijuana is very important to me.It totally helps me with my Bipolar disorder.
This whole business,lying about marijuana being dangerous,and against the law, but all laws must make sense;as this law is like this part of Alice in Wonderland, : “He’s in prison now being punished,and the trial dosen’t begain till nex week, but of course the crime comes last of all.” “But what if he did not commit the crime?…that would be all the better wouldn’t it, asked Alice…No. No! said the big fat judge: sentence first verdict afterwards.”
I’m strongly in favor of legalization, and I think it’s irrefutable that doing so would provide a lot of help in other areas of serious concern. But I think to characterize it as “The Most Important Issue,” or as an urgent issue, or as one that should be addressed before virtually all others is absolutely ludicrous.
I do think it’s extremely important to get out of US prisons the people who are locked away for possession of relatively small amounts. But for the others – those who chose to take the risk and break the law (however bad a law I think it is) will have to wait.
Legalization will not play a significant role – hyperbolic claims notwithstanding – in dramatically reducing unemployment, or in increasing revenues while reducing expenses, improving health care (or making it more accessible), or in improving infrastructure. I’m on board with legalization, but not before we address and put behind us a number of far more urgently important matters.
And I figure that anyone who really DOES think legalization IS THE “Most Important” has been smoking far too much.