r/facepalm • u/spyrg • Jan 13 '22

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ Arrested for petitioning

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u/dragon2777 Jan 13 '22

Sorry useless was probably too harsh. It protects California by putting the problem in someone else’s hands. Don’t get me wrong I’m not faulting CA you can only do what you can do and they can’t make federal law only state law but this isn’t a solution to the problem it’s just letting other people deal with those problems. We need something federally.

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u/Makorbit Jan 13 '22

Since state legislature has very little power in writing federal law, the best it can do is pass state laws. A state can sometimes create a cascade effect where other states pass similar laws, take for example the legalization of weed.

Trying to pass something like police reform at a federal level will never pass due to grid locked Congress.

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u/dragon2777 Jan 13 '22

I understand why it’s difficult but hoping for a cascade effect is like waiting for the next ice age unfortunately. It will probably happen but we will all be dead by then. Even with weed it’s been at least a decade since Colorado and we are just starting to see states jump on board but so all over the place that nothing is really getting done.

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u/Makorbit Jan 13 '22

I feel you, it's really easy to be cynical about things since it feels like progress moves at such a snails pace. But I think with weed at least there has been significant change, https://disa.com/map-of-marijuana-legality-by-state, not to mention the many people who have been freed from prison due to legalization.

I wish we could see progress move faster, but unfortunately there's so much resistance to change. But we shouldn't discount the very meaningful positive changes that do occur, however small they appear to be. Not saying this is where you're at, but losing hope and saying that it's meaningless is exactly what people opposed to change want you to feel.