This is already starting to make people angry because if this proposition is passed, the measure that the citizens of Washington D.C. voted on would pretty much be overturned by Congress. This could cause advocates of legalizing marijauna to get riled up because Congress is undermining the people who voted for the legalization of marijuana. I think that if this initiative is passed, it could be construed by some as a misuse of the government's power. Many people think that the government should not be allowed to overturn a measure voted on by actual citizens of Washington D.C. This decision does not support the idea of limited government, and demonstrates that the federal government can in some cases overpower state and local governments.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Congress Thwarts Legalization of Marijuana in D.C.
In the article, "Marijuana Legalization in U.S. Capital Dashed in Budget Plan," (Link to Article) it states that the $1.1 trillion federal spending plan that was worked out yeterday does not allow D.C. to spend money on legalizing or reducing the penalties for marijauna possession. The House is going to vote on this proposed plan tomorrow. This plan is supposed to block the adoption of the ballot measure that was voted on recently to allow D.C. residents to grow marijauna and possess up to two ounces of the substance.
This is already starting to make people angry because if this proposition is passed, the measure that the citizens of Washington D.C. voted on would pretty much be overturned by Congress. This could cause advocates of legalizing marijauna to get riled up because Congress is undermining the people who voted for the legalization of marijuana. I think that if this initiative is passed, it could be construed by some as a misuse of the government's power. Many people think that the government should not be allowed to overturn a measure voted on by actual citizens of Washington D.C. This decision does not support the idea of limited government, and demonstrates that the federal government can in some cases overpower state and local governments.
This is already starting to make people angry because if this proposition is passed, the measure that the citizens of Washington D.C. voted on would pretty much be overturned by Congress. This could cause advocates of legalizing marijauna to get riled up because Congress is undermining the people who voted for the legalization of marijuana. I think that if this initiative is passed, it could be construed by some as a misuse of the government's power. Many people think that the government should not be allowed to overturn a measure voted on by actual citizens of Washington D.C. This decision does not support the idea of limited government, and demonstrates that the federal government can in some cases overpower state and local governments.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This article really brings up an interesting point about our country, the District of Columbia receives no actual votes in any policy in Congress. This quite peculiar especially considering the District has a greater population than two actual states (Puerto Rico is more populous than 20 states, but that is an argument for another day.) All in all, a new way of representation for the District of Columbia has to be created in order to more fully represent the people living there.
ReplyDeleteThis really does undermine the peoples choice like you said, I think that once the people have voted on something, congress shouldn't be able to overturn it just because they're not comfortable with it
ReplyDeleteThat seems like a big whole in what we hold our government to be. We say that we the people have the power in our government, but if Congress could directly overturn something that the people of the District of Columbia passed, then the people in the District of Columbia do not seem to hold very much power for themselves... very controversial, very controversial.
ReplyDelete