Progressivism
I stepped back into a US History classroom last week. After a career in History classes, it was refreshing to be in a room where I had some expertise. While I enjoy substitute teaching, even in Pre-Calculus and Physics; it’s not like I can help the students out much in those classes. Google Classroom is really “in charge”. But US History: yes, I still know “my stuff”.
The topic of the day was the “Progressive Movement”, the era of the late 1890’s into the early 20th Century. For those who might be a little rusty, Progressives were able to pass four US Constitutional Amendments:
- The graduated income tax (16),
- Direct election of US Senators (17),
- Ban the sale of alcohol in the US (18), and
- Grant women the right to vote (19).
If that doesn’t jog your memory, perhaps you remember President Teddy Roosevelt (and even more, Ohio’s own Williams Howard Taft) “busting” the trusts, the massive business monopolies that controlled American commerce.
The People
The Progressives also made same serious changes at the state level. The state legislatures were dominated by corporate interests. (Think $60 million and the First Energy Corporation…oh wait, that was a couple of years ago). Progressives developed a “bypass” plan. Initiative and Referendum allowed the people of a state to directly vote on State Constitutional amendments or laws. (Initiative is when the people initiate the vote, referendum is when the people either ratify or reject a proposal of the state legislature). Politically, “the people’s vote” gave politicians “cover” from their financial backers – “I didn’t vote for it, but the people did!!”
And the perfect example of initiative is the people passing a law that the state legislature refused to touch. It’s the marijuana initiative passed in Ohio last month.
The marijuana initiative passed with 57% of the popular vote. And though it was on the ballot in November of 2023, there was a huge turnout. 48% of registered voters, voted, just slightly less than a normal “off-even-year” election of around 50%. (Presidential election years run around 70% turnout). So there was a serious margin of victory, and a serious number of votes. To put it simply, over 2 million Ohioans wanted the initiative to pass.
The Initiative
And what did the initiative say?
Issue 2 legalized and provided for the regulation of recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 and above, including cultivation, processing, sale, purchase, possession, and home growth. Under the initiative, adults are allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and up to 15 grams of marijuana concentrates. Additionally, individuals are allowed to cultivate up to six marijuana plants at home, while households can cultivate up to 12 plants collectively.
The Division of Cannabis Control, created under the initiative, is responsible for regulating and licensing marijuana operators and facilities and is responsible for overseeing the compliance and standardization of marijuana businesses and production in Ohio. Licensing for distributing facilities was expected to be complete around Fall 2024.
Under Issue 2, marijuana sales were set to be taxed at 10%. The revenue generated from this tax was set to be directed toward establishing a cannabis social equity and jobs program, designed to provide financial support and assistance for license applications to individuals who have been disproportionately affected by past marijuana-related law enforcement (Ballotpedia).
Like It or Not
Look, you can like the new marijuana law, or not. You can think that marijuana is already endemic in our society, and might as well be legal, or you can think it’s just another “evil” to add to alcohol – a bad idea. But the people of the State of Ohio have spoken – in large numbers. No one “snuck” marijuana legalization under the table. The new “law” is scheduled to go into effect on December 7th, (that’s the day after tomorrow). And, as we live in a democracy, where we respect the “voice of the people”, it’s a “done deal”; right?
The words “respect” and “voice of the people” don’t resonate with the Legislature of the State of Ohio. Here’s the “modifications” the Republicans in the State Senate are proposing.
- eliminate the opportunity for adults to legally home cultivate marijuana
- significantly increase cannabis-related taxes on the sale and manufacture of retail products (from 10% to 15%)
- severely decrease how much cannabis adults may legally possess at any one time; eliminate social equity support for marijuana-related businesses (tax revenues would instead go to the state ‘general fund’)
- impose arbitrarily low THC potency limits on cannabis flower and other products;
- decrease the number of licensed retailers
- keep marijuana possession criminalized until adult use dispensaries are operational, likely at least 12 months from now (NORML – items in parentheses from local news).
Full disclosure: while the Senate wants to make these changes to “the will of the people”, the State House isn’t so gung-ho about it. And while the Governor is clearly on the side of “modifying” the initiative as passed, he isn’t willing to go so far either. But the Senate proposal begs the question: what’s the political upside of going in the face of more than 2 million Ohioans?
In Their Face
What are the “powers that be” in the State of Ohio, that seem to be even more powerful than 2 million voters making their will clear? First, it’s the right-wing, and often Christian fundamentalists of the state. While they don’t hold a majority, they do represent the vast majority of the Republican voter base, the voters in the political primaries. And this same legislature has gerrymandered the state to the extent that a state that voted less than 55% Republican in 2020 has a legislature that’s more than 66% Republican.
In short, Republicans are more worried about winning their primary, than the general election that follows it. And primary elections are won in the base. Those legislators aren’t worried about what the state “thinks”, but they are worried about getting “primaried to the right”. So they are perfectly willing to “buck” a statewide decision; their carefully curated districts don’t include many of “those” folks.
Second, there’s a powerful beer, wine, and liquor lobby, donating millions of dollars to Ohio legislators. They’re worried about the impact of legalized marijuana on their own product sales, though, limited studies show it’s actually a reverse effect. Legalization seems to increase local alcohol sales (Medical Express). (And probably the sale of brownies and potato chips as well).
These Senators agree with former Senator and Presidential candidate Republican Rick Santorum. He said:
“Thank goodness that most of the states in this country don’t allow you to put everything on the ballot, because pure democracies are not the way to run a country,” Santorum said Tuesday night on Newsmax (The Hill).
Pure Democracy – well certainly the Ohio Senate is making their feelings clear about that. Democracy must be the enemy of – what – partisan political power?
That’s certainly what the Progressives thought, more than a century ago.
