appal_jack
appal_jack's JournalKick for visibility.
Is it too late at night to be starting a thread at DU?
Is everyone happy with no big public works programs, a continued War on (Some) Drugs, the world's highest incarceration rate but no banksters in jail, Wall St. running things, etc.?
Does the President have no power to GOTV? Is it too much to ask for progressive Executive Orders six full years after the first Obama campaign was in full swing?
Bueller? Bueller?
-app
Cannabis & WPA-2 GOTV strategies 'from the top' in 2014?
Fellow & Sister Democrats,
My wife and I were talking today over lunch about all the odious predictions of a Republican sweep during the midterms of 2014. Neither of us watches much mainstream media, so I'm not entirely sure how widespread these predictions are, but I've seen them posted on FB from (Democratic) friends, heard it on NPR, and seen discussion of it elsewhere on the net, so it must be pretty bad. With all the Koch-ed-up $$$ fueling things post-McCutcheon, I think that it will take something pretty substantial to alter the narrative. At this point in time, with a paralyzed Congress and a corrupt Supreme Court, it will take action by the President, in the form of Executive Orders, to really get the electorate to sit up, take notice, and come out to vote. Here are my two ideas and time frames:
A "Better Deal"
Time-frame: Right F(*&%^&* Now!
The Works Progress Administration was established by FDR via Executive Order 7034 in 1935. According to http://mentalfloss.com/article/20519/executive-orders-famous-infamous-ridiculous, it "built upon the hugely popular Civilian Conservation Corps, and provided work to an estimated 8.5 million people. In its eight years, it built over 600,000 miles of roads, 125,000 bridges, 8,000 parks, and 850 airport landing fields. The WPA also employed painters, sculptors, musicians, and writers. The result: 2,500 murals, 17,500 pieces of sculpture, 34 new orchestras, 2,000 public service posters and the American Guide series—the most complete travel guide to the United States ever published." How's that for precedent? With our infrastructure in this nation crumbling and too many still underemployed, underpaid, or out of work entirely, it's time to restart this public endeavor via an EO for a "Better Deal." I'm thinking 1,000,000 immediate hires, with roads, farmland conservation practices, water quality projects, public transit, bridges, historical and ethnographic research, and public art as high priorities. By initiating the WPA "Better Deal" right now, enough people could be employed by next November to really change election results. Plus, it's necessary and right.
Reschedule Cannabis
Time Frame: Right F(*&%^&* Now! (or as late as 9/14)
There are reams of links and research supporting this issue, and a substantial majority of Americans now support it, so I won't belabor the issue. Cannabis, while it should be entirely legal for use by adults, can and should be immediately rescheduled to Schedule V (lowest potential for abuse - in-line with cough syrups, etc.) by Executive Order or even by action at the Attorney General level (with backup from the Presidency of course). While I believe than an immediate rescheduling would be best, I could accept that waiting until August or September of this year might get the most attention from the electorate, and also have the smallest potential for Congress to counter it prior to the election.
Short of actions at this scale, I'm afraid of what damage can be wrought by a corporate media and an uninspired public.
What would you do if you were Obama? What Hope and Change is six years overdue in your estimation, and achievable "Right F(*&%^&* Now" by the President unilaterally? What will it take to really get out the vote of substantial and enthusiastic majorities?
-app
At this point, CONgress is not a welcome addition to anything.
At this point, Congress is not a welcome addition to anything. They are dysfunctional, except perhaps when serving the very wealthy. It took them three years to pass a Farm Bill fer-cryin'-out-loud. Asking Congress to act on a matter where the Executive branch does in fact have considerable leeway is passing the buck, pure and simple.
Didn't Obama recently say that Congressional intransigence would lead him to act unilaterally where he could? Decriminalizing mj should have happened in 2009 (bet the 2010 midterms would have spun-out differently then, eh?)
The admin has shown it is even fully willing to break the law when it matters to them (NSA spying, drone killings, keeping Clapper on-board after perjury to Congress, etc.), so progressive reform of the failed War on (some) Drugs must not matter to them. The Attorney General has the power to remove mj from the list of Schedule 1 substances. He should use it. Now.
It's been a long wait for that promised hope and change.
-app
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Member since: Wed Aug 11, 2004, 06:57 PM
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