When I chose the theme I would focus on with my Civic issue blog I knew it would be hard to stay out of the presidential election news. I have talked about other political issues, but I couldn’t stay away from talking about this specific topic. Before I start, I would like to warn that I am not a Trump supporter, and consider myself a republic, but I will try to keep this as unbiased as possible with this topic. They are calling it “The Trump Effect“. The Trump effect, from what I have read, details how Trump’s actions are going to be the cause of the destruction of the Republican party. Early on when Trump was only just starting to make his mark in the presidential election, I remember looking at my dad and telling him that a man like Trump could not be president. My dad only responded with a phrase that is now too common and that is that Trump has become the democrats’ greatest gift. This didn’t sink in until the CNN report came out about how Trump’s abortion statements that women need some sort of punishment for abortion was badly affecting his position in his party. I believe that this is very true. Trump can say all he wants about his views, and he can badmouth the other candidates, and he might still win the election despite his foul behavior; but when it comes down to it, Trump is ruining the image of the Republican party, and this will really affect his presidency and the people’s political views in the long run. The Republican party will have to work very hard to tidy a lot of the claims Trump is making, and once and if he becomes president, this sort of behavior will not be tolerated in the White House and in Congress, even if Congress has a republican majority. Or this could go another way, where Trump ruins the republican party so bad that people actually switch parties, and more democratic views are supported leading to a Congress with a democratic majority. However, by far the biggest result of the Trump Effect is the way it has been inspiring action from groups of people who might have never been interested in politics before. Whether these groups have joined the voting population to vote for Trump or not, one thing is for sure: out of the recent political elections, this one has been the most interesting and talked about. It has inspired minority groups like Latinos, younger voters and groups like that to join in the efforts of candidates, and become involved with politics. For me specifically, I never watched any of the debates, and kept my political knowledge to very basic terms. But this election has fueled so much passion in my views, and even anger and outrage caused by the Trump effect that has only furthered my beliefs and even inspired me to read more news, become more informed, and finally take part in voting. So while there is the possible issue of Trump becoming president, we can be comfortable knowing that there is more incentive to prevent some of his horrible, cruel ideas from actually becoming reality.
Archives for March 2016
The Impact of the Medical Marijuana Bill in PA
So as I was looking through my news feed on Facebook the other day, and I scrolled past an article about the recent passing of the medical marijuana bill in PA. Personally, I thought it was a blog post from a hippie site of sorts, but since marijuana politics seems to be a common theme in news recently, I checked it out. I was surprised to learn that the article was legitimate, and yesterday the House passed a medical marijuana bill for the state of Pennsylvania. This step might be small considering the amount of states changing their legislation in favor of medical marijuana, but I believe this trend could be more significant in terms of also showing a transition into more open minded politics.
Back 20 or more years ago, mentioning marijuana in any context was always negative, even if it was regarding its medicinal properties. People back then believed the typical pot user to be a teen or someone in their early 20s, of color, without a job prospect, and one who was involved in other criminal behavior, so basically a junkie. However, in our current world there has been a change in the demographic of pot users. Sociologists found that the average medical marijuana user is actually a white, middle-aged, educated and fully employed male. These change in marijuana stats is a notable one, as this same group 20 or so years ago, would be the most opposed to any type of marijuana legislation. This shift in opinion could be a result of the politics we see in the news today. For example, 20 or so years ago, having a candidate like Trump or even Sanders might have appeared to be too extreme, or even having females running for the presidency would not have seemed like a plausible option. And this change can be seen in other aspects of politics and law such as the change of marriage laws for homosexuals. It is no longer taboo to think of a gay couple getting engaged or a female president. And the shift has been specially apparent in marijuana in that it is no longer seen as a “gateway” drug or horrible illegal substance. The stigma is definitely not completely eliminated, but it has decreased greatly. There is now research on its medical use whereas in the past, it took years for scientists to be allowed even a small sample to test. Even more significant is its legal recreational use found in a few states, but is being considered in others.