Cory Booker. Likable Democrat. You'd vote for him.

[TheReal_ND]

If a sociopath speaks reason, is reason made invalid?
Or is it reason nonetheless?

You're the one ascribing reason to something. Sometimes it's true, I find manifest reason in the unabomber manifesto. Doesn't mean I need to change my overall opinion of him I suppose. Idk. Kind of waiting to hear what reason there is to vote for a democrat ever.

[DBTrek]

Well, there are only two parties that get elected with any regularity in the USA - Republicans and Democrats.
They have the population divided between themselves in a roughly 50/50 split.

Let's suppose in this land of ours you have maybe 500,000 people that you really think would make good leaders. Most of these people you will never know or meet, of course, but just suppose out there in America there are a half million people that you'd trust in leadership roles.

About 250,000 of these people will be democrats.

Now . . . you might decide that being a democrat immediately disqualifies anyone from a leadership role.
Ok - but you've just limited yourself to half of the options you had before.
Meanwhile, the rest of the nation didn't.

So everyone who hasn't limited themselves by partisanship has twice the options, twice the chances, twice the opportunity of getting someone in office they can tolerate. Maybe you find a democrat who is pro-jobs, pro-border security, and doesn't have any real interest in pursuing gun control. That's not so bad, eh? But maybe he loses to an Evangelical drug warrior who wants to build more prisons and fill them up. Damn, in a race like that you might have fared better with the democrat, eh?

[TheReal_ND]

Valid argument but it's still fanciful. The party is against things I believe in as a block.

Like, I'm not going to get all clubby about this but if you have a team that kind of works for things you like and another team where they kind of work against on the whole, what strategic benefit is it to actually support one of their outliers that you align with? I'm genuinely curious.

[DBTrek]

Valid argument but it's still fanciful. The party is against things I believe in as a block.

Like, I'm not going to get all clubby about this but if you have a team that kind of works for things you like and another team where they kind of work against on the whole, what strategic benefit is it to actually support one of their outliers that you align with? I'm genuinely curious.

Self interest.

I've been against prosecuting people for marijuana use or possession for a long time. I also value the second amendment. Do I vote for the party of "War on Drugs" Reagan, or do I vote for the party of "Assault Weapon Ban" Clinton? I don't know. I have to see who is more likely to give me what I want, or conversely, who is more likely to give me what I don't want.

Washington is a "shall issue" state and has legalized marijuana.
So it's possible to get both things you want, but not by only electing one party.

[TheReal_ND]

Hmm. I'll have to think on that. Forcing the party to do what you want was part of the Trump geist.... I'm not voting democrat anyway. Too close to the border.

[clubgop]

Valid argument but it's still fanciful. The party is against things I believe in as a block.

Like, I'm not going to get all clubby about this but if you have a team that kind of works for things you like and another team where they kind of work against on the whole, what strategic benefit is it to actually support one of their outliers that you align with? I'm genuinely curious.

Right now, the choice is between the extremes, even if the individual is not. That politician must service their base. It is their fundraising, all their staffing, their media. When you are electing someone you are dealing with the worst aspects of their party. You are picking your poison.

[DBTrek]

Booker introduces bill to legalize marijuana nationwide

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is proposing a far-reaching bill that would both legalize marijuana at the federal level and encourage states to legalize it locally through incentives.

The New Jersey Democrat’s bill, called the Marijuana Justice Act, has virtually no chance of passage in the Republican-controlled Congress and in a presidential administration that’s decidedly anti-marijuana.


“You see these marijuana arrests happening so much in our country, targeting certain communities — poor communities, minority communities — targeting people with an illness,” Booker, the former mayor of Newark, said in a Facebook Live roll-out of his legislation.

The bill would remove the federal prohibition on marijuana and withhold federal money for building jails and prisons, along with other funds, from states whose cannabis laws are shown to disproportionately incarcerate minorities.

Under the legislation, federal convictions for marijuana use and possession would be expunged and prisoners serving time for a marijuana offense would be entitled to a sentencing hearing. . . .

http://www.politico.com/states/new-jers ... ion-113716