US Ends War On Drugs

[SeniorBuzz]

I'm working on it.

It's all about educating others

on the facts of the matter

regardless of the issue

so that they might educate others

and thus gain a voice

 

[kannubis]

Careful with that voice. Many have been silenced in the name of "Freedom". The wrong ones.

 

[cork144]

ploy to offer up their system of helping drug addicts i bet,

then once the systems inplace, turn it tyrannical.

speculation, obviously,

 

[Kush_Dreams]

I bet they mean the war on drugs "abroad" has stopped or will stop, they don't want it stopped here in the United States

 

[Pseudo]

the war on drugs is over YAY!!! oh yeah about the war on american citizens, thier freedoms, and constitutional rights, that war is still goin strong, fuck lying political scum

 

[Stoner Chick]

I wish more ordinary people would become lobbyist themselves. Realistically, they should be.

The reason why lobbyists are so efficient and effective at what they do, is not only do they rally for people to vote for "their" politician, they also make sure that when the politician has been elected and sworn in, that he or she does not forget who helped them get elected. But people don't realize that they hold more power than lobbyists do.

Hmm. As a former lobbyist, i have to disagree. We don't have anything to do with rallying people to vote for a politician - generally. There are cases where lobbyist write speeches for politicians which do lead to being elected, like say...Todd Stroger President of the Board of Cook County Commissioners. But in general, all we are concerned with is pushing legislation and getting our Fact Sheets into the hands of as many reps and senators as we can so they are fully informed when they vote.

You are right that lobbyist do make sure politicians do not forget how they got elected. Many lobbyist hold fund raisers directly for politicians in office. I have personally raised $160,000usd in 2hours for a Governor, and we did that twice for him as a lobbying firm - so for sure he knows he owes the firm a favor on legislation he can influence.

Here is the deal.

Lobbying inherently is anti-democratic/democracy; the reason i am not a lobbyist anymore is because once this mental illness thing started riding me, i no longer had the mental will to deal with manipulating the system for rich corporations to get what they want and when my agoraphobia kicked in, it made it even easier to quit (thankfully i don't deal with that particular problem any longer).

Politicians are in general pawns to lobbyist interest - where else do you think they get the legislation that is passing through your capital right now? It is not generated by a representative or senators staff out of altruism, the legislation is generated at a Union or a Corporate office, or a Law Firm, because SOME ENTITY WANTS SOMETHING DONE. Some entity has decided to enter the political stream because its interest has been agitated enough that it must participate in the political legislative process in order to affect an outcome in their favor.

I have NEVER - NEVER - NEVER in 5 years of lobbying seen ANY legislation cross a state house floor that did not have a gain in it for a company or union, or politician that wants fortheir district or neighborhood. Even the most benign of legislation, will have somewhere padded in it a gain for someone other than the primary matter that the legislation is addressing.

Like for example - increasing the numbers on a county board for a water reclamation district. It sounds benign at first, but really, there is a housing alliance involved that wants to build in that county but ONLY if they get more influence on the board - therefore increasing the number of county board members allows the chairperson to appoint whomever they want to the board - instant favor paid, no one knows that the entire legislation was simply meant to support a huge housing corp.

Lobbying is bullshit and needs to be illegal. I am so angry about the amount of money i have seen exchange hands for political favors its just disgusting.

 

[OjoRojo420]

Their cynicism and lack of true empathy for the People make me sick!

But all will fall over their reptilian heads.

Lies upon lies...

You need wings to stay above all these bullshit.

 

[Stoner Chick]

I wish more ordinary people would become lobbyist themselves. Realistically, they should be.

Ordinary people DO become lobbyist. They just happen to be politically motivated.

Ordinary people won't make a difference because ordinary people need that one thing: Money. And the lobbying field is full of it, if you are a good girl or boy. And when ordinary people get into lobbying, they either get disgusted and quit, or get caught up in the money and rolling around in 30-60k a year cash bonuses.

For all things political you need as Socrates said, those who do not wish to have the job because they will do it the best.

 

[Emperor Herer]

STOP THE MADNESS

STOP THE MADNESS

For all things political you need as Socrates said, those who do not wish to have the job because they will do it the best.

Amen, girl.

 

[m00nchild]

The only people who would believe this nonsense story are people who do NOT live inside the United States. I can assure you all, the war on drugs is alive and well here in the good old land of the free.

 

[Maria_Vanessa]

Hmm. As a former lobbyist, i have to disagree. We don't have anything to do with rallying people to vote for a politician - generally. There are cases where lobbyist write speeches for politicians which do lead to being elected, like say...Todd Stroger President of the Board of Cook County Commissioners. But in general, all we are concerned with is pushing legislation and getting our Fact Sheets into the hands of as many reps and senators as we can so they are fully informed when they vote.

You are right that lobbyist do make sure politicians do not forget how they got elected. Many lobbyist hold fund raisers directly for politicians in office. I have personally raised $160,000usd in 2hours for a Governor, and we did that twice for him as a lobbying firm - so for sure he knows he owes the firm a favor on legislation he can influence.

Here is the deal.

Lobbying inherently is anti-democratic/democracy; the reason i am not a lobbyist anymore is because once this mental illness thing started riding me, i no longer had the mental will to deal with manipulating the system for rich corporations to get what they want and when my agoraphobia kicked in, it made it even easier to quit (thankfully i don't deal with that particular problem any longer).

Politicians are in general pawns to lobbyist interest - where else do you think they get the legislation that is passing through your capital right now? It is not generated by a representative or senators staff out of altruism, the legislation is generated at a Union or a Corporate office, or a Law Firm, because SOME ENTITY WANTS SOMETHING DONE. Some entity has decided to enter the political stream because its interest has been agitated enough that it must participate in the political legislative process in order to affect an outcome in their favor.

I have NEVER - NEVER - NEVER in 5 years of lobbying seen ANY legislation cross a state house floor that did not have a gain in it for a company or union, or politician that wants fortheir district or neighborhood. Even the most benign of legislation, will have somewhere padded in it a gain for someone other than the primary matter that the legislation is addressing.

Like for example - increasing the numbers on a county board for a water reclamation district. It sounds benign at first, but really, there is a housing alliance involved that wants to build in that county but ONLY if they get more influence on the board - therefore increasing the number of county board members allows the chairperson to appoint whomever they want to the board - instant favor paid, no one knows that the entire legislation was simply meant to support a huge housing corp.

Lobbying is bullshit and needs to be illegal. I am so angry about the amount of money i have seen exchange hands for political favors its just disgusting.

Ordinary people DO become lobbyist. They just happen to be politically motivated.

Ordinary people won't make a difference because ordinary people need that one thing: Money. And the lobbying field is full of it, if you are a good girl or boy. And when ordinary people get into lobbying, they either get disgusted and quit, or get caught up in the money and rolling around in 30-60k a year cash bonuses.

For all things political you need as Socrates said, those who do not wish to have the job because they will do it the best.

Thank you very much for both of your posts. They are very informative. Do you know how lobbying fits into (PACs), 527 groups, and 501(c) groups? Or are they different beasts themselves? Have you had alot of experience dealing with any of these groups?

Do you believe if ordinary voters as a whole became more proactive at the local, state and federal levels they could circumferance this kind of political influence that lobbyist perform?

 

[OjoRojo420]

Do you believe if ordinary voters as a whole became more proactive at the local, state and federal levels they could circumferance this kind of political influence that lobbyist perform?

The key is to keep the People distracted with Cold War, War on Drugs, War on Terrorism, Economic Crisis.... More surely to follow and ALL will suck!

Keep the people nervous and they'll behave like sheep... passing along their autonomy and free will.

Orwellian???

You betcha... and TRUE!!!

 

[Stoner Chick]

Thank you very much for both of your posts. They are very informative. Do you know how lobbying fits into (PACs), 527 groups, and 501(c) groups? Or are they different beasts themselves? Have you had alot of experience dealing with any of these groups?

Do you believe if ordinary voters as a whole became more proactive at the local, state and federal levels they could circumferance this kind of political influence that lobbyist perform?

I've never worked with 527s and 501c organizations. All my lobbying was pure corporate big business interest. Coal, Tobacco, Pro-bad things type corporate organizations.

Ordinary voters are a powerful thing. NIMBY (not in my backyard) movements stop a lot of legislation at the local area in big and small cities and communities. The best example of a "realist's view of Democracy in America" would be the Tea Party movement. They are completely circumventing corporate and union money interest being pushed behind incumbent politicians.

There is a book, The Semisovereign People,by E.E. Schattschneider, it is a lot of theory about the relation between organization and conflict, the relation between political organization and democracy, and the organizational alternatives open to people. This books theories have already been proven because Schattsneider theorizes that the wider the scope of conflict of an issue the greater the chances of regular people getting involved and forming an organization to pursue their interest in the matter. Therefore, it follows that the most powerful special interest want private settlement of their matters because they are able to dictate the outcome as long as the conflict remains private, but the moment the people of NowhereVille USA find out a nuclear power plant may be going up 10 miles down the road they become agitated and enter the political stream in pursuit of their interest, which would be working against a nuclear plant in their back yard. But more importantly what powerful interest recognize is that it is the weak who want to socialize conflict, to involve more people in the conflict until the balance of forces is changed, and this is why you have 'back room deals' - to hide it from as many as possible so as to stop the socialization of the conflict.

So, yes, when ordinary voters become active at the state and local and federal levels they can circumvent the influence of lobbyist by forming their own organizations to support their agenda and interest, like so many organizations that exist today...Sierra Club, for one. I have seen state Senators who won't touch a bill that has ANY chance of the Sierra Club getting involved against it.

Party politics, interest group politics are my specialty after international and constitutional issues.

 

[Maria_Vanessa]

I've never worked with 527s and 501c organizations. All my lobbying was pure corporate big business interest. Coal, Tobacco, Pro-bad things type corporate organizations.

Ordinary voters are a powerful thing. NIMBY (not in my backyard) movements stop a lot of legislation at the local area in big and small cities and communities. The best example of a "realist's view of Democracy in America" would be the Tea Party movement. They are completely circumventing corporate and union money interest being pushed behind incumbent politicians.

There is a book, The Semisovereign People,by E.E. Schattschneider, it is a lot of theory about the relation between organization and conflict, the relation between political organization and democracy, and the organizational alternatives open to people. This books theories have already been proven because Schattsneider theorizes that the wider the scope of conflict of an issue the greater the chances of regular people getting involved and forming an organization to pursue their interest in the matter. Therefore, it follows that the most powerful special interest want private settlement of their matters because they are able to dictate the outcome as long as the conflict remains private, but the moment the people of NowhereVille USA find out a nuclear power plant may be going up 10 miles down the road they become agitated and enter the political stream in pursuit of their interest, which would be working against a nuclear plant in their back yard. But more importantly what powerful interest recognize is that it is the weak who want to socialize conflict, to involve more people in the conflict until the balance of forces is changed, and this is why you have 'back room deals' - to hide it from as many as possible so as to stop the socialization of the conflict.

Party politics, interest group politics are my specialty after international and constitutional issues.

I like listen and hear other people's opinion, which is why I am asking so many question. I feel as though when I am doing so, I am expanding my horizon greatly.

Since you mention the Tea Party as an example, how do you feel about Freedomworks and Dick Armey's influence in the Tea Party?

 

[Stoner Chick]

Since you mention the Tea Party as an example, how do you feel about Freedomworks and Dick Armey's influence in the Tea Party?

I have really avoided getting involved in all the various organizations and conservative groups and really do not follow them. I know that the Tea Party meet ups in my nearby city were first organized by a mother of a student from the school my kids go to, and now they are pretty large and have had some big name speakers. All political organizations are motivated by self-interest, FreedomWorks is no different. The Tea Party has FreedomWorks, and Left has SEIU. I guess they are all necessary evils in the game they play as long as we, the people, allow it to be played by not pushing for legislation which restructures our political system in a way that eliminates lobbyist participation and influence.



I try to keep my political involvement at a minimum now.

 

[Payaso]

Anyone here remember John Lennon buying an ad in the New York Times along with billboards around NYC proclaiming that that war was over and peace was declared?

 

[tetragrammaton]

When I saw this link, I got my hopes up. I knew it was too good to be true.

I can't wait for the day when this actually happens.

 

[SeniorBuzz]

I like listen and hear other people's opinion, which is why I am asking so many question. I feel as though when I am doing so, I am expanding my horizon greatly.

Since you mention the Tea Party as an example, how do you feel about Freedomworks and Dick Armey's influence in the Tea Party?

Dick Armey/FreedomWorks are not a part of my tea party Patriot movement

we have no room for politicians

Afghanistan Coalition Fatalities through:
May, 2009 119;
May, 2010 223

 

[pecosthecat]

Good news, but I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[SOTF420]

War on Drugs, sure maybe it is over since it never has been a war on the drugs to begin with. What we have been all fighting back against is a War on the People, and a war against our freedom.

It makes me..