- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
Very weird that I am so old and have literally never heard this mentioned in a TV show or book or movie or anything.
In four out of five states, if you go to prison, you are literally paying for the time you spend there.
As you can guess, this results in crippling debt as soon as you’re released.
The county gets back a fraction of what they hold over your head the rest of your life until you commit suicide(or die naturally and peacefully with the sword of damocles hanging over your head).
$20-$80 a day according to Rutgers.
Counties apparently sue people and employ wage garnishment to get back the money that majority of people obviously cannot pay back.
https://www.rutgers.edu/news/states-unfairly-burdening-incarcerated-people-pay-stay-fees
He’s had some policies I agree with, that move us towards a less police state level. I admit, I haven’t followed him super closely, he’s less interesting than things have been lately, but at least the federal decriminalization of marijuana and pardons (I know they were effectively useless, didn’t really do anything - we can get into exactly why) show he’s at least trying to do what constituents want, which is a far cry more than a lot of other politicians.
Can he, should he, do more? Yeah. But credit where it’s due, he seems like he’s trying to steer two giant ships - his own past biases, and the United States political climate. Both of those are slow and hard to do, so anything moving in that direction should be celebrated.
Don’t be fooled, Joe doesn’t give a shit about decriminalizing any substance, after all, he wqs the biggest proponent of the RAVE act
See, this is EXACTLY my point. We all get obsessed over the things of the past, and while those can help inform us of the present, they’re not actually the present.
Yes, he was a proponent of the RAVE act. That’s one of those “don’t forget the bads” that I mentioned. We can accept that, and also accept that he seems to have lightened up on that BS in recent times.
No one’s perfect, everyone changes their minds about things. You did horrible things in your past too, almost certainly. That’s not you, we can accept that, but for politicians it’s this unchanging thing - you supported one thing, you will always continue supporting that thing.
Let people grow. Let ideas be brought up, and shot down. Let mistakes be in the past, and start focusing on what’s actually happening in the present.
It’s not about “being obsessed with the past” it’s about paying attention to history, particularly a certain person’s history. Joe biden had not been even remotely interested in legalization/decriminalization until he started running for office. Joe Biden was already an old man when he pushed for enforcement of the RAVE act along with other drug bills, I can maybe understand his “concrete jungle” statements from the 70’s, but we are literally talking about barely over 20 years ago.
All I am saying is to be cautious and not too trusting, ESPECIALLY of politicians.
Right. As I said, you can use the past to color your present, but the thing that matters presently is present actions and, to a lesser extent, words. So, judging him based on his actions during presidency, which should show us either his current beliefs or, at least, his willingness to listen to constituents.
During his presidency, he’s been… Well, I won’t say stellar, but his actions have been more in line with someone who actually wants better, rather than someone who wants to cling to old habits. Again, could he do more, yes. But his record -recently- has been, for a politician, pretty good.
You bring up the RAVE act. That was 20 years ago. 20 of the most eventful years in at least modern history. Do you think someone is incapable of change for 20 years? I know I’ve changed drastically just in the last 2 or 3 years. I mean, yeah, he’s old, but I’ve seen old people change too. Might not come full revolution, change is slow, but again - any progress is worth acknowledging and celebrating.
Is there something he’s done during his presidency that leads you to believe he’s still got those same values from prior? We can talk efficacy of some of his planned solutions, and some of his lack of a spine, but I think overall his actions are consistent with his words, in this regard.
I agree with you for the most part, but at the end of the day, you have to take someone in power action by action. Everyone who has ever held office has pretty much done at least one or two good things for their community. I’m not saying that I’m totally anti Joe Biden, but I think that he (like all politicians) can be full of shit sometimes. Remember back when he got elected, he proceeded to undo everything trump did about border control and even made that a big part of his campaign? As of late, he has slowly been reimplementing those policies. I think Biden is someone who rides off emotion and public feedback in relation to followers of his party, which can be a good thing but it can also be a bad thing.