What can Minnesota’s political leaders do to avoid another budget mess in the future?

Vote/speak for the re-legalization/decimalization of Cannabis/Hemp/Ganja/Marijuana, the world’s most useful and versatile plant. We need never to have a shutdown again.

Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere! – George Washington, First U.S. President

We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption. – John Adams, 2nd U.S. President

“The best hemp and the best tobacco grown on the same kind of soil. The former article is of first necessity to the commerce and marine, in other words to the wealth and protection of the country. The latter, never useful and sometimes pernicious, derives its estimation from caprice.”

-Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President, Jefferson’s journal entry / March 16, 1791

“Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.”

Henry David Thoreau

Prohibition… goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes… A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. – Abraham Lincoln

“However, the connection of hemp as a crop and marijuana seems to be exaggerated. The drug is usually produced from wild hemp or locoweed which can be found on vacant lots and along railroad tracks in every state. If federal regulations can be drawn to protect the public without preventing the legitimate culture of hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.” – Popular Mechanics, 1938

Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?

– Henry Ford

“Marijuana never kicks down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in bedroom windows. Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”—William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008)

The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, depriving the sick of needed help, and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents. – William F. Buckley, 1983

Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marihuana in private for personal use… Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marihuana. – Jimmy Carter, U.S. President: Message to Congress, August 2, 1977.

“If adults want to take such chances (with marijuana) that is their business.” -Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. President

“I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be. We really need a re-examination of our entire policy on imprisonment…Our imprisonment policies are counterproductive.” – Bill Clinton, 42nd U.S. President

‎After two years of doctor-and-patient testimony, the D.E.A.s chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, ruled that ‘marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substance known to man’. – Nick Jones

“Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.” – Bob Marley.

The war on drugs has been an utter failure. We need to rethink and decriminalize our nation’s marijuana laws. – Barack Obama, January 21, 2004 debate

“We can each resolve, every last one of us, to do the maximum that we can, in each of our given circumstances and by making opportunities, and this then becomes our personal contribution towards ending the worldwide prohibition of cannabis.” – Jayelle Farmer

“I think we consume far more dangerous drugs that are legal: cigarette smoking, nicotine and alcohol. I feel they cause much more devastating effects physically. We need to lift the prohibition on marijuana.” – former Surgeon General of the United States, Joycelyn Elders voicing her support for legalization of marijuana

‎”The war may not be quite over but any stigma still left lingering around cannabis consumption today is largely restricted to out of date and increasingly unenforced pieces of legislation. So indelibly stamped on our culture has cannabis become that it must now rank as the most popular and controversial plant on the planet.” – Nick Jones

“Anorexia, emesis, pain, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disorders (Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease), epilepsy, glaucoma, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, obesity, and metabolic syndrome-related disorders, to name just a FEW, are being treated or have the potential to be treated by cannabinoids.” Dr. Mechoulam (Cannabinoid Researcher since 1960 – present) PMID: 18286801

“THC induces the Cancerous cell to make a fatty substance called ceramide, which prompts the cell to start devouring itself, noncancerous cells don’t make ceramide when they come into contact with THC. The healthy cells don’t die.”

-Biochemists Guillermo Velasco & Manuel Guzmán, Complutense University

“THC is Antimitogenic or Antiproliferative (inhibits Cancer cell division), Antiangiogenic (inhibits the growth of new blood vessels in Cancers), Proapototic (encourages old cell death before mutating then leading to Cancers) & Antitumoral (counteracting or preventing the formation of malignant tumors; anticancer). Those appear to be the mechanisms that might account for these Antitumoral effects of THC.”

– Dr. Donald Tashkin, UCLA

“People who make a personal decision to smoke marijuana should not be subject to prosecution.”—U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D), February 26, 2011

The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world. – Carl Sagan

The thc guy (for some undetermined? reason) forgot he had posted his comment already.

It’s simple,

Listen to each other and ALL their constituents.

Remember they are responsible for all.

And COMPROMISE!

Seriously if they had taken these simple steps they would have agreed to a budget long before anyone started talking about a government shut down.

Require that the budget be taken care of first by the legislature. No bills covering any other area can be considered until the budget is done, and no non-budgetary items can be connected to the budget bill.

@ Mike

The thc guy must “wake and bake” with a cup of joe and a puff.

The time lag from the time previewed/posted and actually posted can be confusing and lead to uncertainty of whether or not the action has been completed. I’m sure another five or ten minutes often results in a wish for a delete button for double (I’ve even seen triple) postings.

As far as cannabis goes, it’s the elephant in the room yet it’s the also solution to the current economic and ecological crises. As the history of culture and cannabis is reviewed and considered, threads to our modern mess are exposed. There really needn’t be any taxes in a society based on plenitude.

Competition and compromise can be much more co-operative and creative when the meanings “to petition together” and “to promise together”.

Ezekiel 34:29 “And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the ignorant any more.”

1) Enact legislation that prevents a lawmaker to earn a salary during a shutdown. 2) In the event of a shutdown, law provides for a recall election. 3) IRV – and allow a few Independence Party members to offset “majority” and force legislators to do what’s right…not what their party’s ideology mandates. Look where that got us.

This isn’t over yet. Dayton don’t fold, don’t agree yet.

Reduce spending…. means cutting, eliminating programs; not just reducing the amount given to those programs until they are ineffective or inefficient.

Increase revenues… means more income; and since taxes are the are prime source, then produce a structure that will equalize the tax base. Yes, increase tax on the wealthy portion and decrease taxes on those with fixed incomes. Revamp the revenue principles and process.

How much did we save / spend with this shutdown?

Amend the Constitution so that a budget cannot be balanced via spending and payment deferring. That would then leave that option off the table in future years, which it will need to be since this solution is going to cause a lot of pain two years from now.

I think members of the public believe that a “balanced budget” means money coming in needs to be the same or greater than money going out, unless of course money from the previous budget created a surplus and you do not need as much income in the next budget. So borrowing to balance just doesn’t make sense.

Another option would be for the public to actually step up and recall their representatives if they so much as mention that they won’t compromise.

Adapt the Carlson/Mondale plan

Sorry if this repeats, I’m not sure if I hit the right button.

Politicians should not sign silly political pledges that serve as a lobotomy against real governance and decision making. These political pledges limit the representatives’ ability to actually do what is right for the people of Minnesota.

If we are serious about making democracy work then we need to start at the beginning of the process. Election days should be official state holidays. This would enable more citizens to vote and avoid the oligarchy, government by the few, we now have. In ancient Athens on days when the assembly was in session, citizens found skipping their duty to vote were painted with a red pigment to advertise their nonparticipation. If we adopted this today, we truly would become a “red state.”

I think they may need to make an amendment to the constitution stating that no money shall be borrowed to balance the budget. Since they apparently found a loophole in the the amendment requiring them to have a balanced budget.

As a person my 20’s I am really getting sick of having to pay all the bills from the generations before me! If I hear another person talk about how bad they feel for kids I am going to puke, actions speak louder than words.

25% unemployment for people under 25, higher and higher tuition ie student loan debt (state now funds 18% of the U), fighting 2 wars for YOU, paying for those wars (to China), paying for the debt of this country (14 Trillion and climbing), paying for medicare and Social security (get real), and for those of us who do have jobs, we have the lowest starting salary of any other generation before us. In addition to all of this we now have to pay the debt of our state.

What is the incentive to stay in this country let alone this state? Also, if you really think you are going to protect the rich, social security and medicare you are dreaming!

Dear babyboomers, when is it enough? Do you need the shirt off of my back too? Oh, what’s that you lost value in the home that was too expensive for you, oh well here’s a tax break paid for by cuts to higher ed… oh you need some help paying for your healthcare because you never took care of yourself, well we can pay for that, lets just cut research and development or borrow money from our biggest competitor China. Does that make you feel better? Of course not, what else do you need??

First to all you compromisers out there. We spend too much in this State already!.

We need our leaders to justify each expenditure. There are programs upon programs for everything from birth to death. These are unsustainable. Stop the madness. Encourage citizens to make responsible decisions in their own lives so the government doesn’t have to rush in to rescue them at every turn.

We as citizens aren’t innocent either. If we use a government service do we truly need it. Do we hold our elected officials accountable for waste? Do we question expenditures as necessary? Do we take care of our health so taxpayers don’t have to subsidize our care?

Nothing can be done. Morons will always keep electing morons. But fortunately when these short sighted actions destroy the schools, infrastructure, ecology and ultimately the economy, and any reason to live here, those 7000 millionaires will still move away Then raising their taxes a smidgen won’t be an issue. It’ll be like living in the deep south, no industry, job job, crappy roads, horrid school, etc. But hey we’ll have low taxes AND crappy winters!

@ Chris “What is the incentive to stay in this country let alone this state? Also, if you really think you are going to protect the rich, social security and medicare you are dreaming!”

You are welcome to leave the country at any time … let’s us know how well you do somewhere else.

Many of us baby boomers have paid into the system created by both Democrats and Republicans alike. I for one will not live long enough to even recover the principle.

As for taking care of my self, I see a far greater number of obese young people that 60 plus and BTW at 62 I can still run a sub 1 hour 10K. Can you?

You are make gross generalizations that frankly are unfair and not true.

Abolish all political parties. The ballot can have only names, no I’s, R’s, D’s, G’s or any of that. And with the elimination of political parties, let’s dispense with party conventions and nominees. Let’s open the ballot to let anybody run who want’s to. We will still have conservatives, liberals, libertarians, etc. But let’s vote for people, not parties.

Which leads to…

Institute ranked choice, (or instant run-off), voting. This will insure that the winning candidate really does reflect the majority of the vote. I’m sorry but 51% is not a majority. Require the winning candidate get a Super Majority, say 75% of the votes.

Reform tax laws by eliminating the income tax and all it’s attendant loopholes and other accounting shenanigans. Generate revenue with a consumption based tax.

1. The leaders should pass a law that says they do not get paid if they don’t pass a budget. If they refuse, the voters should insist.

2. The people of the state should make sure that Tea Party candidates (or any other brand of dogmatic candidates on either side) are not elected in the future. Legislators who would rather see the state go under rather than compromise on one of their pet ideas should not be in office.

STOP SPENDING!

Government is growing faster than the economy in both good times and bad.

The whole concept of making people dependant on a government program so they have to vote for you has to stop. TERM LIMITS.

The great state of Colorado has loosened the Cannabis laws and the sky did NOT fall .. Instead ,,the Governor has a new source of tax and registration fees , that has been a huge help to the state to bring the budget short fall under control .. I also think that Industrial cannabis will create 10s of 1,000s of JOBS and 1,000s of uses of the close cousin to medical cannabis that has low intoxicating value.. It can be used for Bio fuel,,Bio mass, fiber ,,food and even raw materials for car building as well as Residential and commercial low carbon impact building materials ..Like HEMPCRETE..framing lumber .flooring,,insulation and 1,000 of other uses.. Henry Ford had a hemp car in 1943.. now Canada has a hemp car to be available next year to the world.. Get on board and let Cannabis be the magical solution to the states growing need for workers and new taxes..China is building a hemp car also.. The U.S. is falling behind the car industry because of our Cannabis laws.. Allow Medical and industrial Cannabis and balance your budget.. Thank You Jeff Kabik ,,,Chairman of The United States Marijuana Party of Maryland..

Minnesota leaders need to consult with leaders in other states. Some states don’t even have a state income tax.Minnesota could learn from other states.If you tax the rich, there can be a “brain drain” in which the best professionals choose to live in other states or they can just pass the cost of higher taxes to the rest of us. Lawyers and orthodonists can raise their prices.Also, my experience has shown me that schools with more money aren’t always better schools.I have heard some reporting on this, but MPR doesn’t seem to be strong in this area.It could be a union bias. We all need to be better informed if we are going to improve government..

Try some real honesty in the accounting.

All of this talk about how if government were a family at the kitchen table doesn’t fly when the proposed solution to hard times is raiding the kids college funds and proposing to not pay the mortgage for a few years.

These sorts of accounting tricks wouldn’t fly in a corporate scenario. They shouldn’t be allowed to happen in government either.

It appears that half or more of the shutdown problems were from lack of state employees to process regulations and permits to business..that says tons about the too big government we really don’t need. As long as we don’t educate ourselves to the candidates we will keep electing fools.

For example: As a great writer once said,

” Having just shed the shackles of monarchy, the Founding Fathers were loath to establish a government with an all-powerful chief executive. To prevent it, they created a government divided into three equal branches. Their idea was that each branch would check the other in order to limit government’s growth. But Congress has abdicated its responsibility, the Federal judiciary has become the oligarchy Thomas Jefferson warned about, and the result is we now have an imperial Presidency.” No wonder small and large business say that they FEAR the President’s control? America elected a President and MN elected a Governor , both having NO real executive business work experience and thus no clue.

Leaders?

Problem is we did not have leaders.

Leaders understand the problem after careful looking and then look at all the options and pick the best.

Our Legislative branch dilly dallied with constitutional amendments, rather then ZERO in on the problems at hand with just LIVING!

Its like arguing about the proper name of a flower as the boat goes over a water fall with everyone on board.

We need rules and guidelines on ethics of conduct that MUST be followed. Ones that allow for clear logic, and less ‘political’ bending.

Clearly better understanding of Roberts Rule of Order is needed.

Also this is a issue of the people not paying attention to the details of the discussion, not hard to understand when considering both the way the Media covers and how the leaders conduct themselves.

Balance in discussion is needed, open access to information is mandatory, and better eduction about media manipulation.

We had a revolt in the election last fall from people who knew they just hated what was happening STILL and not know why. Now it seems after seeing the legislative branches election change was a mistake they are NOW paying attention.

We also need a recall option in Minnesota.