Post by Admin on Jul 26, 2021 15:23:34 GMT -6
Originally posted on Facebook July 26, 2017 - re-shared as a memory on Facebook and first posted here July 26, 2021
I do not remember the law that was being debated by the Texas Legislature that led me to post this in mid-summer 2017, but many of the points still hit home and have not been addressed 4 years later.
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Dear Texas State Senators and Representatives:
Will you all please refrain from continuing to try and attack the rights of your own citizens? The items that you are spending lengthy times drafting, debating, formalizing and voting on are all illegal under the Constitution of the United States as discriminatory laws. Somewhere along the way we have lost sight of the fact that just because something is popular (which in these cases is debatable) or can be carried by votes either of the populace or their representatives that it is somehow magically constitutional as well. The Constitution still stands as the law of the land, so why do we waste time in the halls of the Legislature on things that will ultimately fill up the Judiciary branch and be put down? Especially when we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill on all fronts for you all to do this? If a law takes the beliefs or opinions of a sector of the populace and uses it to take basic rights away from or to segregate another sector of the populace, that law is illegal. That should be part of Legislature 101, but apparently that has been lost in translation somewhere.
It is time for legislators to pass some common sense items for once. It's time to stop paying attention to special interests and to the 5% of loudmouthed advocates that garner 95% of the media coverage. It's time to come to the table with some compromises that will help life in the State of Texas on a real basis. Below are some items I propose that would all work together to improve life all around in Texas and that many people in the mainstream want, they just are not vocal about it. I will admit, some of them are controversial.
Legalize casino gambling and in Texas and tax it. Texas is currently sending millions of dollars in tax revenues over our borders to Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Casino owners in those states are lobbying and contributing to our own lawmakers and their campaigns to make sure it stays that way. This policy is not good for Texas, it is only good for Texas legislators. Let's keep those dollars in our state and reap some of the benefits. Many Texans are driving for the privilege of participating in casino gaming, why not make Texas a destination for it? Increases in tax revenues, tourism dollars and an influx of business opportunities for people that are already successful within our state would result. The positives outweigh the negatives for our state.
Legalize marijuana consumption across the state and legalize sales at licensed dispensaries. Regulate it and tax it like we do alcohol. This item works on several layers. First, there would be a tax benefit for the state, the current model of using tax money for law enforcement and seizing items from criminal parties is not exactly a profit center for the state. This change would be. Tax revenue would increase, law enforcement expenditures could be adjusted or re-apportioned to other needs across the state, prison overcrowding and the already packed judicial system would see decreases in use, which leads to EVEN MORE state funds being freed up for other purposes, or at least it would mean that the current amounts of state funds going to these agencies would allow them to function better with their burdens being reduced. Also, Texas tourism would receive another boost. Free market competition among the marijuana dispensaries would lead to more efficient production and higher quality products. This could lead to opportunities for investment in Texas, to greater tourism, and to another burgeoning state industry much like microbreweries and independent distilleries are becoming. The arguments against this honestly pale in comparison to the benefits and we haven't even talked about any medical benefits (Cannabis/THC treatments) or industrial advantages (hemp products) that might be attained.
Use the tax benefits gained by the two previous items to decrease property taxes across the state (we can add to the sales taxes if this becomes too much of a shortfall) and to invest in the public education system. Either bring the public school system up to par with private/charter school systems (I know, I know, I am being too optimistic about governmental handling of funds) or allow the parents to decide where their funds allocated by the state to educate their child will be spent. They do not HAVE to choose public schools, but only there will they be guaranteed that their funds will support the entirety of their child's education. This again sets up a free market style competition leading to more efficient use of state funds and a higher quality product. There are several possibilities here.
In the end, Texas would legalize two items that are currently controversial, but really are already affecting the lives of a majority Texans in some way and using the revenues generated by those laws to truly benefit nearly every Texan in a positive way.
This is just a simple plan, from a simple guy living in Houston that has been thinking about it for a while.
Why is it that no career politician has come up with this sort of plan yet? This is how governments should be run, with common sense ideas and full transparency. This is what the laws we want to pass will do, this is why we are planning to do them, these are the outcomes we think are possible and the probabilities of them happening. Everyone has several days to come with alternative debates as to why the items we have set forward are incorrect or are flawed in some way. In the end, all of us being fully informed will vote what we feel is best for our city/state/country. Why can't we have common sense government? It's because common sense government actually benefits the entirety of the population and not just those who are already in the seats of power. Democracy works, it really does, but corruption and greed are fomented by it and it is VERY hard to keep it on track unless everyone is trying to keep it there and honestly has the best interest of the city, state or country in mind.
Anyhow, this random post will be ignored because people do not respond to common sense ideas that deal in reality. They respond to clickbait and would rather call people that disagree with them on some point worse than Hitler. Thank you for reading, advanced apologies for grammar and/or misspellings and have a nice day.
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Commenter #1 - It will never happen with the current administration.. i emailed greg abbott about the very same things and his people wrote me a long letter about how marijuana is a gateway drug and is horrible for our children.. i thought what about alcohol.. does this mean its good for our children? Makes no sense
Me - That's exactly what you get with career politicians. You ask a legitimate question and you get fearmongering and "think of the children!!" . . . he did not answer your premise, he just tried to scare you away. Marijuana is currently a gateway drug because it is illegal to attain. If you are already attaining illegal drugs and you get bored or complacent or need a bigger thrill/high, what is to keep you from trying something else illegal but more powerful? You are already getting away with it, right? You are correct to bring up alcohol in this situation. What is alcohol a gateway to? The same stigma would be removed from marijuana with decriminalization. You regulate the distributors and do not let them lace their products with other drugs (an occasional occurrence in illegal trades, some would say that leads to the gateway designation) just like you don't let alcohol distributors put schedule 1 narcotics in their beer or whiskey. These are common sense discussions about an issue that could potentially lead to solutions in lower taxation and public education, but no one is having them. They would rather dismiss you with a platitude and admonish you for trying to harm the children of the State of Texas. I don't know how we vote them all out, but I know it starts with finding common sense candidates to run against them. Unfortunately, those giant coffers are awfully hard to beat.
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Commenter #2 - You lost me at "tax it."
Me - It's called compromise. No one can get everything that they want. If we stand on our street corner and demand everything, yet concede nothing, no solutions are reached, animosity builds and the gears of democracy grind to a halt. We are going to make something currently illegal, legal, but there must be a benefit to the state for doing so. Simple as that.
Commenter #2 - The benefit to the state is the dramatic reduction in violent crime.
I do not remember the law that was being debated by the Texas Legislature that led me to post this in mid-summer 2017, but many of the points still hit home and have not been addressed 4 years later.
-------- Full Text of Post ----------
Dear Texas State Senators and Representatives:
Will you all please refrain from continuing to try and attack the rights of your own citizens? The items that you are spending lengthy times drafting, debating, formalizing and voting on are all illegal under the Constitution of the United States as discriminatory laws. Somewhere along the way we have lost sight of the fact that just because something is popular (which in these cases is debatable) or can be carried by votes either of the populace or their representatives that it is somehow magically constitutional as well. The Constitution still stands as the law of the land, so why do we waste time in the halls of the Legislature on things that will ultimately fill up the Judiciary branch and be put down? Especially when we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill on all fronts for you all to do this? If a law takes the beliefs or opinions of a sector of the populace and uses it to take basic rights away from or to segregate another sector of the populace, that law is illegal. That should be part of Legislature 101, but apparently that has been lost in translation somewhere.
It is time for legislators to pass some common sense items for once. It's time to stop paying attention to special interests and to the 5% of loudmouthed advocates that garner 95% of the media coverage. It's time to come to the table with some compromises that will help life in the State of Texas on a real basis. Below are some items I propose that would all work together to improve life all around in Texas and that many people in the mainstream want, they just are not vocal about it. I will admit, some of them are controversial.
Legalize casino gambling and in Texas and tax it. Texas is currently sending millions of dollars in tax revenues over our borders to Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Casino owners in those states are lobbying and contributing to our own lawmakers and their campaigns to make sure it stays that way. This policy is not good for Texas, it is only good for Texas legislators. Let's keep those dollars in our state and reap some of the benefits. Many Texans are driving for the privilege of participating in casino gaming, why not make Texas a destination for it? Increases in tax revenues, tourism dollars and an influx of business opportunities for people that are already successful within our state would result. The positives outweigh the negatives for our state.
Legalize marijuana consumption across the state and legalize sales at licensed dispensaries. Regulate it and tax it like we do alcohol. This item works on several layers. First, there would be a tax benefit for the state, the current model of using tax money for law enforcement and seizing items from criminal parties is not exactly a profit center for the state. This change would be. Tax revenue would increase, law enforcement expenditures could be adjusted or re-apportioned to other needs across the state, prison overcrowding and the already packed judicial system would see decreases in use, which leads to EVEN MORE state funds being freed up for other purposes, or at least it would mean that the current amounts of state funds going to these agencies would allow them to function better with their burdens being reduced. Also, Texas tourism would receive another boost. Free market competition among the marijuana dispensaries would lead to more efficient production and higher quality products. This could lead to opportunities for investment in Texas, to greater tourism, and to another burgeoning state industry much like microbreweries and independent distilleries are becoming. The arguments against this honestly pale in comparison to the benefits and we haven't even talked about any medical benefits (Cannabis/THC treatments) or industrial advantages (hemp products) that might be attained.
Use the tax benefits gained by the two previous items to decrease property taxes across the state (we can add to the sales taxes if this becomes too much of a shortfall) and to invest in the public education system. Either bring the public school system up to par with private/charter school systems (I know, I know, I am being too optimistic about governmental handling of funds) or allow the parents to decide where their funds allocated by the state to educate their child will be spent. They do not HAVE to choose public schools, but only there will they be guaranteed that their funds will support the entirety of their child's education. This again sets up a free market style competition leading to more efficient use of state funds and a higher quality product. There are several possibilities here.
In the end, Texas would legalize two items that are currently controversial, but really are already affecting the lives of a majority Texans in some way and using the revenues generated by those laws to truly benefit nearly every Texan in a positive way.
This is just a simple plan, from a simple guy living in Houston that has been thinking about it for a while.
Why is it that no career politician has come up with this sort of plan yet? This is how governments should be run, with common sense ideas and full transparency. This is what the laws we want to pass will do, this is why we are planning to do them, these are the outcomes we think are possible and the probabilities of them happening. Everyone has several days to come with alternative debates as to why the items we have set forward are incorrect or are flawed in some way. In the end, all of us being fully informed will vote what we feel is best for our city/state/country. Why can't we have common sense government? It's because common sense government actually benefits the entirety of the population and not just those who are already in the seats of power. Democracy works, it really does, but corruption and greed are fomented by it and it is VERY hard to keep it on track unless everyone is trying to keep it there and honestly has the best interest of the city, state or country in mind.
Anyhow, this random post will be ignored because people do not respond to common sense ideas that deal in reality. They respond to clickbait and would rather call people that disagree with them on some point worse than Hitler. Thank you for reading, advanced apologies for grammar and/or misspellings and have a nice day.
----------
Commenter #1 - It will never happen with the current administration.. i emailed greg abbott about the very same things and his people wrote me a long letter about how marijuana is a gateway drug and is horrible for our children.. i thought what about alcohol.. does this mean its good for our children? Makes no sense
Me - That's exactly what you get with career politicians. You ask a legitimate question and you get fearmongering and "think of the children!!" . . . he did not answer your premise, he just tried to scare you away. Marijuana is currently a gateway drug because it is illegal to attain. If you are already attaining illegal drugs and you get bored or complacent or need a bigger thrill/high, what is to keep you from trying something else illegal but more powerful? You are already getting away with it, right? You are correct to bring up alcohol in this situation. What is alcohol a gateway to? The same stigma would be removed from marijuana with decriminalization. You regulate the distributors and do not let them lace their products with other drugs (an occasional occurrence in illegal trades, some would say that leads to the gateway designation) just like you don't let alcohol distributors put schedule 1 narcotics in their beer or whiskey. These are common sense discussions about an issue that could potentially lead to solutions in lower taxation and public education, but no one is having them. They would rather dismiss you with a platitude and admonish you for trying to harm the children of the State of Texas. I don't know how we vote them all out, but I know it starts with finding common sense candidates to run against them. Unfortunately, those giant coffers are awfully hard to beat.
-----------
Commenter #2 - You lost me at "tax it."
Me - It's called compromise. No one can get everything that they want. If we stand on our street corner and demand everything, yet concede nothing, no solutions are reached, animosity builds and the gears of democracy grind to a halt. We are going to make something currently illegal, legal, but there must be a benefit to the state for doing so. Simple as that.
Commenter #2 - The benefit to the state is the dramatic reduction in violent crime.