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[Jopax]

Hey the US prison industry has to keep it's flow of legal slaves somehow :V

[hector13]

Portugal decriminalised consumption of drugs in 2000, they’re not doing too bad.

[Maximum Spin]

So you're saying that the person needs to go to prison for it and lose voting rights and no longer be able to get a job in most places?

Objectively, a person who does that really shouldn't be voting or, frankly, in any kind of job that matters. Prison is an absurdity in such cases, but let's not get too trusting either.

[martinuzz]

We decriminalized drug posession for personal use in the 1970s and we still have orders of magnitude less addicts on the streets than the US have.
(not to mention orders of magnitude less percentage of the population locked in prisons)

[hector13]

So you're saying that the person needs to go to prison for it and lose voting rights and no longer be able to get a job in most places?

Objectively, a person who does that really shouldn't be voting or, frankly, in any kind of job that matters. Prison is an absurdity in such cases, but let's not get too trusting either.

Objectively? On what basis are junkies any worse at democracy than literally any other group?

[Maximum Spin]

Objectively? On what basis are junkies any worse at democracy than literally any other group?

We're literally talking about people "passed out in broad daylight" on the street from drug use here, they're objectively worse at EVERYTHING than other people. If you are strung out in the street, you cannot possibly form a reasoned political opinion. Or any opinion. Or thought.

On the other hand, I'd be totally okay with allowing this with the proviso that I get to be the one to buy their votes in exchange for drugs.

[martinuzz]

I totally agree, epileptics should never be allowed to vote, can't trust them.
/s

[Maximum Spin]

I totally agree, epileptics should never be allowed to vote, can't trust them.
/s

I could potentially be convinced of this.

[hector13]

Objectively? On what basis are junkies any worse at democracy than literally any other group?

We're literally talking about people "passed out in broad daylight" on the street here, they're objectively worse at EVERYTHING than other people. If you are strung out in the street, you cannot possibly form a reasoned political opinion. Or any opinion. Or thought.

On the other hand, I'd be totally okay with allowing this with the proviso that I get to be the one to buy their votes in exchange for drugs.

That’s the extreme end of things, sure. Plenty of addicts are high-functioning enough to not be obvious addicted.

Contrast this with the perfectly reasonable, tee-total major candidate who has ignored medical experts for the entirety of a global pandemic, preferring instead to endorse treatments that have no evidence that they actually do anything to improve outcomes, was infected with the pandemic and still engaged in behaviour that was likely to spread the incredibly infectious disease.

[Maximum Spin]

That’s the extreme end of things, sure. Plenty of addicts are high-functioning enough to not be obvious addicted.

Yes, and those people don't fall into the category that was described, so nothing was said about them by anybody.

[MorleyDev]

Pretty sure if you're an addict strung-out in the street, you need therapy and counseling, not jail.

[hector13]

That’s the extreme end of things, sure. Plenty of addicts are high-functioning enough to not be obvious addicted.

Yes, and those people don't fall into the category that was described, so nothing was said about them by anybody.

They’d still be thrown in prison if they got caught with it, and consequently lose their voting rights.

[Rolan7]

your fantasy land where the fascist ethno-staters are going to be nice to you because you have money.

If this is what you think I'm saying, you're dumber than you look.

You're saying that we're all fine, but you know that's not true.  You've been confronted with various counterexamples, and in the past you've shrugged and admitted that *you're* fine and that's what matters to you.

Nobody here is in immediate existential threat from either a Trump or a Biden victory.

The COVID threat is constant, immediate and existential - people are dying constantly.  It's directly attributable to him mismanaging the response and - let's not forget - deliberately lying to us about it.

Also, if I and he were currently on 5th Avenue, it is the opinion of his attorneys and the Justice Department that he could shoot me dead.
I'm not supposed to consider that as a threat?  It seems like an existential threat to American rule of law, if nothing else.

Having panic attacks over it is neither justified, helpful, nor healthy. I just want people to be, if not happy, at least accepting and not stressed out over this. You, empirically, want people to be sad and angry. Why is that?

this argument does not bring me joy

I want people to be happy, and also safe and enfranchised.  Trump is trying to end the vote early, striking a mortal blow to American democracy, and I think that is important enough to care about.

I'm going downtown again in an hour, at significant personal risk, to join a demonstration in favor of finishing the vote count.  I am doing this for myself, my friends, this American Experiment, and even you.  I guess this is a virtue signal which I'm rubbing in your face because it seems like the most wholesome and productive way to respond to your disingenuous campaign of deceit.

[SalmonGod]

I'm all for not criminalizing some drugs but I've never understood how anyone can look at the results of total decriminalization and think it's a good thing.

...

Have you ever looked at the results of total decriminalization?  Like not what you imagine would happen, but an actual case?

[Maximum Spin]

You're saying that we're all fine, but you know that's not true.  You've been confronted with various counterexamples, and in the past you've shrugged and admitted that *you're* fine and that's what matters to you.

Let me be clear. You are fine. Everyone here is fine. You may think you have confronted me with counterexamples, but I dispute their validity.

The COVID threat is constant, immediate and existential - people are dying constantly.  It's directly attributable to him mismanaging the response and - let's not forget - deliberately lying to us about it.

Neither of those sentences are true statements. You will almost certainly not catch the virus and if you did you would almost certainly be fine. Nothing Trump, Hillary, Biden, or anyone could have done could have materially changed the situation on the ground either.

Also, if I and he were currently on 5th Avenue, it is the opinion of his attorneys and the Justice Department that he could shoot me dead.
I'm not supposed to consider that as a threat?  It seems like an existential threat to American rule of law, if nothing else.

It's only a threat if you are insane enough to think he would.

If you were here in my house or on my property, then, because you would be trespassing, it is my opinion, the opinion of my attorneys, and the opinion of New York State that I could shoot you dead. And I absolutely would. Is that an existential threat? Don't break into my house and you'll be fine.

I'm going downtown again in an hour, at significant personal risk, to join a demonstration in favor of finishing the vote count.  I am doing this for myself, my friends, this American Experiment, and even you.  I guess this is a virtue signal which I'm rubbing in your face because it seems like the most wholesome and productive way to respond to your disingenuous campaign of deceit.

This is fine, I'm happy for you. You should, indeed, exercise your first-amendment rights to the fullest extent of your desires, and all legally valid votes should be counted.

The fact that you somehow think that this is pettily hurting me is baffling, but doesn't bother me.

ETA: Putting this here rather than in a new post because it's to you specifically.
What you don't seem to understand is that my position isn't "whatever happens, I'll be fine"; it's "whatever happens to me, I'll be fine with it". I've made my peace, man. I have ataraxia. Now I want everyone else to have the same.