A lot of huffing and puffing in recent weeks about what the President-Elect has been up to at his offices in Chicago.
"Why would he put a sexiest ego-maniac in the Treasury?"
"Hillary Clinton at State? She's gonna sabotage him and the country just to settle a cheap political score!!"
"Bob Gates?! Are you f**king kidding me!?!"
All the while we on the left are looking to him to simply enact all the things we want him to. To use his power to shove this country violently left-ward. Didn't we reject the notion of the unitary executive? So why do we want President Obama to be our lapdog the way Bush was a lapdog to the military-industrial complex, pharmaceutical companies and Wall Street? There are a lot of examples but I'd like to use this diary to illustrate my point.
Now don't get me wrong: I agree whole heartedly with the working theory of the diary (i.e. as a means of stimulating the economy and cutting back the shameful prison population in this country, ending marijuana prohibition would create an entire industry overnight and make one less thing illegal, and also end the need for the criminal element's existence in marijuana cultivation and sale), and I don't want to be accused of "calling out" the diarist.
I simply take issue with the notion that we must wait for the President-Elect to announce his support before we take action. The diarist states:
President Barack Obama could emulate FDR and do something really fun and uplifting for the entire country by announcing his unconditional support for legalizing marijuana. We could legalize it and regulate it. Just like alcoholic beverages.
Spot on, by why is the onus completely on the President here? Why must we be forced to be spectators in our own democracy? Isn't that what got Obama elected - the promise, the hope, that we could once again take control of our own country?
It reminds me of the history of the Civil Rights act of 1964. After their meeting, President Lyden Johnson said he agreed completely with Dr. King, and that civil rights were essential to the survival of our democracy and he told the Reverend to go out and "make me do it."
No am I comparing marijuana usage to the right to not be discriminated, or to vote. No, but the way it's going to happen is the same. Marijuana is still illegal because it's easier for politicians to keep it that way. So let's change that.
I don't know about you but to me, Barack Obama's promise of change meant that We The People must be willing and able to stand up to power and demand it. It meant that the powers that be in Washington do not own this country or the lives of the people in it, and it was up to us to be the change we have been waiting for. He was elected not because HE was going to change everything, but because he empowered US to change this country.
Want marijuana legalized? FIGHT FOR IT
Want single-payer healthcare? FIGHT FOR IT
Want real alternatives to fossil fuels? FIGHT FOR IT
We cannot sit back and wait for our government to do things for us. We've done that since the '70s and look where it got us. It is up to us to Be the Change.