6 ms·
For those not familiar with US society, this is huge. Mississippi is generally regarded, true or not, as a conservative state, perhaps even reactionary. Its go
by rendall 5y ago
For those not familiar with US society, this is huge. Mississippi is generally regarded, true or not, as a conservative state, perhaps even reactionary.
Its government was a staunch defender of slavery, the later Jim Crow laws which mandated racial segregation, Negro voting disenfranchisement; the last to repeal alcohol prohibition; still frequently challenging abortion rights; among other such.
Mississippi is kind of a belle weather for how Southern conservative governments will lean. That Mississippi of all places legalizes marijuana means that it will probably be legalized in all 50 states within a year or two.
- locallost 5y agoMississippi burning finally has a nicer meaning.
- fastball 5y agoThat first sentence sure has a lot of unnecessary hedging. Just looking at prez elections, Mississippi hasn't gone Democrat since Jimmy Carter.
- rendall 5y agoI knew someone would complain about that post no matter what I wrote, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I also wanted to honor and acknowledge the non-reactionary political and social forces working and living in Mississippi.
- rendall 5y ago... and another winner: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30191586 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30191586
- lotsofpulp 5y ago> That Mississippi of all places legalizes marijuana means that it will probably be legalized in all 50 states within a year or two. They did not legalize marijuana. At least not in the context of what legalizing marijuana means in 2022, which I think should be that you can walk into a marijuana store and buy marijuana like other states. The important part being that cops can still bust you for simply having marijuana or buying marijuana, or even suspecting marijuana. Which was the big problem in the first place.
- rendall 5y ago~Isn't marijuana possession decriminalized in Mississippi?~ Never mind, I see that it's decriminalized only for 1st offense and under 30 grams, but pretty harsh otherwise.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoYes, but with such restriction that it effectively still gives plenty of room for the government to be able to use marijuana as a reason to abuse people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Mississippi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Mississippi Sure, Mississippi is making progress, but it is 2022, we have the internet, a decade plus of other states actually legalizing it and making it easily accessible to everyone of age, and so my expectations of “legalizing” it are much higher than they were 20 years ago.
- HKH2 5y agobellwether* A wether is a castrated sheep/goat.
- rendall 5y agoThanks.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- refurb 5y agoWhat in the hell kind of analysis is this? I’m betting $1000 that OP has never stepped foot in Mississippi. “Negro voting disenfranchisement”?
- tyleo 5y agoI don’t think OP is talking about disenfranchisement in 2020. Historical disenfranchisement checks out with my understanding of history though.
- rendall 5y agoI was talking about the historical disenfranchisement. Although some argue that the disenfranchisement of felons is similarly motivated, especially considering how easy it is to get a felony in Mississippi
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoI lived in Vicksburg MS in the late 80s. Went to vote with my dad once, we had to drive out into the middle of the boonies to do it. I asked him “why did they put the voting place way out here?” We lived closer to the city, most black people in our district did as well, so they put the place to vote in a place where you would have to drive 30-45 minutes to do it. Voter repression is not just historical.
- rendall 5y ago> Negro voting disenfranchisement https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/05/01/mississippi-constitution-voting-rights-jim-crow/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/05/01/mississipp... I mean, you could take the time to refute the "analysis"...?
- refurb 5y agoOh, the mainstream media says so, so it must be true! Paywall. Would love to comment but apparently I’m not allowed.
- willsi 5y agoOh brother.
- reefer_hacker 5y ago
- hourislate 5y ago>That Mississippi of all places legalizes marijuana means that it will probably be legalized in all 50 states within a year or two. I highly doubt it. And at a Federal level it will never be legalized. The Biden administration has no plans and the folks involved are just playing games and never had any intention of fulfilling their promises.
- pnw 5y agoThe cynical analysis is Democrats can motivate voters to get out every year while it remains illegal, at the cost of ruining peoples lives.
- ericmay 5y agoI think it’s a generational thing… and there is no reason to think the Republicans who have demonstrated they’re much better at politics (much to my personal dismay now that the Republicans are no longer low-tax, small govt) won’t just say “hey we are for legalizing it too” as young republicans tend to not care about it being legal or not. The most accurate poll you could do is just “should marijuana be legalized” and then capture the age groups. That’ll tell you all you need to know.
- jimmaswell 5y agoExactly. Democrats: vote for us for universal healthcare, weed, etc. Republicans: vote for us for gun rights, freedom, etc. Neither plans to actually do anything at the national level. They want these carrots kept around to dangle in their constituents' faces.
- inglor_cz 5y agoGun rights are mostly in hands of SCOTUS now and Republicans did exert a lot of effort to get their candidates there, though in a context of a more general power struggle.
- inglor_cz 5y ago"Never" is a long time. I am willing to bet that marijuana will at least be federally rescheduled to class 3-5 before 2035. A bottle of good Spanish wine, claimable somewhere in Central Europe, if you win :)
- greenie_beans 5y agoThis was a voter-led initiative and the state legislature tried to ignore it in last year’s legislative session. The governor was not a fan either. There were some other leaders who tried to challenge it in court. So I wouldn’t make that strong of a claim that you’re making…it’s still a tough fight here and very conservative. In good news, the vote for the initiative was like 70% for it. Context on the state leg last year: https://mississippitoday.org/2021/03/22/medical-marijuana-and-taxes-the-hallmark-2021-legislative-efforts-are-likely-dead/ https://mississippitoday.org/2021/03/22/medical-marijuana-an... And the court case: https://mississippitoday.org/2021/04/14/mississippi-supreme-court-medical-marijuana-case-what-you-should-know/ https://mississippitoday.org/2021/04/14/mississippi-supreme-...
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> was a voter-led initiative and the state legislature tried to ignore it That this was a grass-roots initiative makes it more durable. It also means challengers can use it as a wedge issue, at the state level and federally.
- greenie_beans 5y agoTrue, but my educated guess as an observer of Mississippi politics... The US will legalize recreational marijuana at a federal level and then give the states the ability to legalize it or not. The state will not legalize it, and if they do, then they'll leave it up to the counties to decide. Most of the counties will not legalize it because it's a very conservative state where Christianity informs the politics more than personal freedoms. And the grassroots efforts will have a hard fight because of how the power dynamics work in Mississippi. I'm very cynical about progressive politics in Mississippi because I've been a part of the grassroots movements and seen what actually happens. 100+ years of white supremacy is very effective at keeping the power structures in tact, because a lot of the voters are disenfranchised, gerrymandered out of having much power, or have moved away.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> I'm super cynical about progressive politics in Mississippi If cannabis legalisation gets branded as a progressive issue it’s DOA. In Mississippi as well as in most states.
- tantalor 5y agobelle weather -> Bellwether https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellwether https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellwether
- efficax 5y ago> That Mississippi of all places legalizes marijuana means that it will probably be legalized in all 50 states within a year or two. Doubtful! The state legislatures in these states are generally more conservative than the population and are generally against these measures. In Wisconsin for example there is currently no chance of legalization because the state legislature is gerrymandered within an inch of its life for some of the most radical republicans in the country, despite the fact that generally the state votes for democratic representatives at the federal and state level.