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Voters Vote Yes, County Says No
Khyber writes in with a story from Montana, where residents of Missoula County voted in a referendum intended to advise county law-enforcement types to treat marijuana offenses as low-profile. The referendum would not have changed any laws, but was advisory only. After voters approved it, county commissioners overturned it by a 2-to-1 vote. They were swayed by the argument of the county attorney, who had a "gut feeling" that Missoula's electorate had misinterpreted the ballot language. The move has resulted in a flood of disaffection among voters, especially young voters. "Is there even a point to voting any more if the will of the people can so easily be subverted by two people?" one voter posted on a comment blog.
Ganja is in the dominion of Jah, and is not within the jurisdiction of the governments of men. Anyone who takes a stand against cannabis is putting themselves at war with their own soul. All of you smokers know this is true, but can't be explained or admitted in public.
This is exactly why I don't vote, & never will.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
"Is there even a point to voting any more if the will of the people can so easily be subverted by two people?"
I suspect this will be an unpopular opinion, but... SCREW the will of the people!
(in most cases)
The point of electing representatives is to make complex decisions that otherwise couldn't be made by an uninformed electorate that doesn't have sufficient time to be come educated on every issue. Now, this is not specific to this particular issue, but to issues in general. Generally speaking, direct democracy to decide various issues is a bad idea.
On the other hand, here in California, we do have the referendum system, which I actually do support. Sometimes we do need a direct vote of the people to make law. But that doesn't mean that elected reps should automatically roll over to the will of the people, if it's clear the people were not sufficiently educated. That's what they're there for.
If the people think the elected reps are wrong, they can vote them out in the next election.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
The started a temporary section called politics during one of the presidential races. Since then, Slashdot has started taking a deep left political slant. I Don't know if it is intentional or just the tone of the editors or management coming out.
But seeing how pot-smoking and making it legal is typically one of those left leaning views, It was probably given more importance then a site tagged "news for nerd" would normally give.