Quote :

"People rag on the Bay Area for being super liberal, but it's really not. Most people here love money and are pretty OK with the status quo, myself included."

That makes sense. I have tried to reconcile your posts with your "I'm definitely a progressive" line but came up empty. It's like you said:

Quote :

"You may consider yourself "progressive", but I can assure you are not."

3/30/2016 12:35:37 PM

Quote :

"have you subtracted your current healthcare premium from that change? "

my premiums are a joke because I'm technically a state employee. I teach at a university and community college, so that's one major expense I don't have to worry about.

Quote :

""You may consider yourself "progressive", but I can assure you are not.""

Compared to the average American, I'd say I'm pretty progressive, but I am way more of a Democrat than a Socialist. I would love for a third Obama term tbh. You can label me whatever you want- doesn't bother me.

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 12:39 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 12:36:57 PM

oh yeah. I forgot about the yuge state taxes in california. you are already paying it so the level of necessary state income tax increases would decrease under bernie.

Quote :

"Compared to the average American, I'd say I'm pretty progressive"

that doesn't mean a lot and definitely isn't what it means to be progressive.

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 12:41 PM. Reason : f]

3/30/2016 12:39:41 PM

you are acting like my views are the odd ones when you're advocating for a total upheaval of our economic and social polices. I've already said it before: I wouldn't mind seeing Sanders' policies implemented slowly over time, but I think he will be less effective than Jimmy Carter if he were to somehow get elected. Idealism vs pragmatism is the way I see it.

3/30/2016 12:46:41 PM

Quote :

"I wouldn't mind seeing Sanders' policies implemented slowly over time,"

How do you think these types of changes happen, generally?

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 12:50 PM. Reason : and i hate to agree with earl, but calling yourself progressive compared to all americans is silly.]

3/30/2016 12:49:25 PM

Everyone keeps pointing to the Scandinavian models, so let's use them as an example. Do you think Finland became the world's leader in education overnight? Nope. Took them several decades to achieve what they've got now.

3/30/2016 12:51:25 PM

I don't think anyone is under the impression that all of his policies can happen overnight. Over 8 years? Maybe a good portion of them, assuming he can inspire people to vote in midterms for the right people.

And Hillary wouldn't push us toward democratic socialism in the slightest. She wants to dip further into private insurance, private lenders, interventionism, etc.

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 12:56 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 12:54:21 PM

wat? the whole point of the Bernie 'revolution' is that all these things need to happen NOW since there's never going to be another chance to do it. That's the whole crux of his campaign.

3/30/2016 12:56:03 PM

No, the point is that another candidate like him may not come around for decades. So we need to elect him and start now.

3/30/2016 12:58:06 PM

Quote :

"the whole point of the Bernie 'revolution' is that all these things need to happen NOW since there's never going to be another chance to do it. That's the whole crux of his campaign."

yeah Bernie supporters want to dismantle the constitution to enact his policies NOW. Cool argument.

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 12:59 PM. Reason : ^ yeah i suspect he's conflating that argument with the actual execution of his policies]

3/30/2016 12:58:43 PM

Quote :

"yeah Bernie supporters want to dismantle the constitution to enact his policies NOW. Cool argument."

not what I said. cool straw man though.

Quote :

"No, the point is that another candidate like him may not come around for decades. So we need to elect him and start now. "

Why not? If that's what people really want, why not start electing people like him on the local level? Is he a unicorn?

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 1:00 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 12:59:44 PM

There are things he can do now with executive action. One being the pardoning of drug offenses and descheduling of marijuana/maybe other drugs.

3/30/2016 1:00:16 PM

I asked:

Quote :

"How do you think these types of changes happen, generally?"

Which means congress, obviously.

To which you replied:

Quote :

"the whole point of the Bernie 'revolution' is that all these things need to happen NOW "

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 1:01 PM. Reason : ^ very minor in the scheme of things]

3/30/2016 1:00:52 PM

Quote :

"Why not? If that's what people really want, why not start electing people like him on the local level? Is he a unicorn? "

There has been a push for this. I was at the Democratic nominating convention in Denver and it seemed like all of the candidates were calling themselves progressives. We nominated a DA who has the approval of black lives matter.

http://michaelcarrigan.com/

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 1:04 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 1:03:04 PM

once citizens united is overturned, wall street is defeated, and money is out of politics, you will start to see politicians who actually represent the change people want to see. I'm a green party member and think bernie's reform could actually open the door for our party.

3/30/2016 1:05:51 PM

Denver is a cool town and CO is certainly a unique state. I would concede it's much more progressive than most places in CA. I'd put Seattle and Portland up there too. But the rest of the country is pretty different.

I get the idealism behind Sanders. I really do. But realistically, I just don't see these sweeping reforms happening the way he's trying to sell them. Look how much trouble Obama had. He's way more centrist than Sanders.

3/30/2016 1:06:04 PM

Quote :

"^ very minor in the scheme of things"

Honestly I think it's is a big one. And it's one he promised to do. It's a huge step toward treating drug addiction as an illness and not a crime, and would be a great benefit to poor communities. Felonies destroy families.

3/30/2016 1:08:02 PM

Hey, I'm all for the decriminalization of drugs and I have been for years. Does that make me progressive?

3/30/2016 1:08:44 PM

Quote :

"He's way more centrist than Sanders."

Thats the point. Obama also got scary amount of money from wall street. Its one thing to say you want reform. Thats the easy part. A lot of Bernie babies believe this partisan bickering is somewhat orchestrated. You see who obama chooses when given the opportunity to pick anyone to nominate for SCOTUS. Theres no point in calling GOP bluff when everyone already knows they are obstructionist. I think he was going to nominate a centrist all along.

3/30/2016 1:11:50 PM

that's why his recent statements on drugs are ridiculous. he could have made vast changes much earlier.

3/30/2016 1:14:17 PM

he could have? look how long it took for gay marriage to finally become legalized. It's been legal in some European countries for 20+ years. Y'all really seem to think American politics undergo radical changes quickly. They don't. It's why were' stuck with a shitty two party system and 80% incumbency in congress.

3/30/2016 1:16:00 PM

Quote :

"Hey, I'm all for the decriminalization of drugs and I have been for years. Does that make me progressive?"

No, if rated for a single position that would make you more of a libertarian.

Quote :

"But realistically, I just don't see these sweeping reforms happening the way he's trying to sell them."

These things are his vision for the future of the country. As I keep pointing out, the realities of actually putting them in place is pretty damn complicated, even ignoring the state of the congress right now.

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 1:22 PM. Reason : ^^ yah he's legacy building at this point. i'll take what i can get.]

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 1:31 PM. Reason : ^ that's a pretty silly comparison tbh]

3/30/2016 1:20:12 PM

^^
Deschedule marijuana, pardon non-violent criminals including retroactively for felons. Stop the DEA from funding itself via seizures. Dictate further how the DEA, ATF, FBI, DOJ should prosecute. All things the executive branch can do.

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 1:30 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 1:25:24 PM

no way on earth would he have done that during his first term. he could easily have done it in the last year or so, so I'll give you that.

Quote :

"that's a pretty silly comparison tbh]"

it's not a silly comparison at all. public support for gay marriage and decriminalizing MJ have followed nearly an identical timeline.

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 1:37 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 1:35:55 PM

Quote :

"it's not a silly comparison at all. public support for gay marriage and decriminalizing MJ have followed nearly an identical timeline. "

Similar timeline doesn't mean similar process

Context was what can the President do about drugs, and as ^^ illuminated for you, the answer is a lot. His options are vast. He can not, however, force the supreme court rule that same-sex marriage is a right. Wildly different processes.

3/30/2016 1:42:38 PM

i never said they were identical processes. you keep putting words in my mouth. are you arguing that public support had nothing to do with it?

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 2:37 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 2:31:42 PM

Legalization reached 58% national support in 2013. I don't know the number for decriminalization, but it's likely higher.

3/30/2016 2:44:57 PM

wait. legalization of gay marriage, or MJ?

3/30/2016 2:47:18 PM

MJ

http://www.gallup.com/poll/186260/back-legal-marijuana.aspx

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 2:48 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 2:48:08 PM

ok. i support legalized MJ, but i don't think i'm quite ready for all drugs to be legalized quite yet. i support the dutch model for the most part. i shouldn't have used the terms interchangeably since they aren't the exact same thing.

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 2:55 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 2:55:03 PM

that's one thing that should be gradual. immediate decriminalization and retroactive pardons, though.

3/30/2016 3:10:44 PM

i think congress has to deschedule MJ

3/30/2016 3:27:04 PM

Quote :

": I wouldn't mind seeing Sanders' policies implemented slowly over time, but I think he will be less effective than Jimmy Carter if he were to somehow get elected. Idealism vs pragmatism is the way I see it."

Clinton is center, she will never pull us towards those things or in that direction because its not the direction she wants to go. Sanders history as the amendment king has shown that he can be effective.

3/30/2016 3:28:28 PM

^^
That's a point of contention, but either way he could use his position to legitimately make the case. I think he just doesn't want to be known for it.

This says congress or the executive branch could do it actually

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_cannabis_from_Schedule_I_of_the_Controlled_Substances_Act

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 3:32 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2016 3:31:19 PM

Wouldn't it get rescheduled and not descheduled?

[Edited on March 30, 2016 at 3:54 PM. Reason : I don't know what's being proposed...my q was just a guess]

3/30/2016 3:43:12 PM

Ya I think you're right. He could drop it to the bottom of the schedule.

3/30/2016 3:53:30 PM

RCP is showing New York averaging Hillary +21, but the range of the three polls is from +48 to +12. The number could really be anywhere. It's worth mentioning that the +12 is the most recent and had the largest sample size.

3/31/2016 2:12:04 PM

Quote :

"One being the pardoning of drug offenses"

you don't know that Presidents can't pardon state level offenders? I'm so shocked.

and thanks for the chuckle about telling us how Kansas is important after spending two months telling us how the south doesn't matter because they're so Red.

4/1/2016 10:57:44 AM

of course I know that. Democratic governors will listen to their Democratic president.

4/1/2016 11:22:42 AM

lol ok. nice attempted recovery.

4/1/2016 1:14:16 PM

How many Democratic governors are there anyway?

4/1/2016 1:15:56 PM

he can pardon federal criminals, which Obama has done to some extent.

edit: actually most have been commuted I think, which means they still have to deal with the penalties of being a felon

[Edited on April 1, 2016 at 1:24 PM. Reason : .]

4/1/2016 1:16:35 PM

Quote :

"you don't know that Presidents can't pardon state level offenders? I'm so shocked."

Except you're the first person to bring up state offenders. He was clearly talking about federal offenders, as he has pardoned some felons.

Give it a rest dude.

4/1/2016 1:20:28 PM

Quote :

"How many Democratic governors are there anyway?"

Not enough, but four of the top ten prison populations at least. And I don't see the Republicans having a great election this time around.

4/1/2016 1:29:57 PM

curious - do you want to pardon all federal drug offenders, or just those in for possession? do we pardon all the drug traffickers?

4/1/2016 3:19:46 PM

also curious where all these people are going to go after they get released all at once. will there be housing and job awaiting them?

4/1/2016 4:49:19 PM

curious - are you against pardoning any federal drug offenders?

4/1/2016 4:55:23 PM

This is a pretty revealing insight into the mind of a centrist Clinton supporter

4/1/2016 6:59:54 PM

^^ federal drug offenders are often high level dealers/gang bangers/violent criminals. for those that aren't (addicts, low-level dealers, etc), I say release them, but violent drug traffickers with weapons charges can rot in hell for all I care.

4/1/2016 7:55:51 PM

how is this insight? oh right, becaue you'll just make up whatever inferences you want to from a simple question. kinda like how bernie can look at 0.15% of all of clinton's campaign contributions and say OMG LOOK AT ALL THIS OIL MONEY SHE GETS!!!!!

I'm asking if you think we should pardon all drug traffickers, or just the ones in for possession. is the guy who is in for a few ounces of weed the same as a guy who is in for a few hundred kilos of heroin?

and the reason I ask about federal is because less than 5% of federal drug offenders are in for possession. So you talking around 4,000 people total. 85,000+ are in for trafficking offenses.

which gets to the root of the "oh well I was obviously talking about federal offenders" because I would have to think you're much more interested in the couple hundred thousand people in state-level prisons for possession offenses. which is where the real absurdity of our drug laws shines through

[Edited on April 2, 2016 at 7:20 AM. Reason : .]

4/2/2016 7:18:46 AM