 So I want to take some time to talk through the ballot initiatives that we saw take place in certain states We had some really interesting things up for a vote and some of the results were really inspiring and groundbreaking and Revolutionary in some ways and other results. Not so much. They were disappointing and quite frankly Proplexing if I'm being honest So let's get to the good first of all because there's a lot to celebrate. I don't want to be a doomer So right off the bat, I'm gonna hit you with some really good news four states voted to legalize recreational marijuana Arizona Montana New Jersey and South Dakota, which means that we now have a total of 15 states Plus DC that have fully legal recreational marijuana. So the tide is turning The domino effect is happening it started with Colorado and Washington State back in 2012 and Little by little every single election more and more states vote to legalize recreational marijuana It's been highly successful and this is going to be a thing in all 50 states I believe Mississippi actually passed medical marijuana, but at this point when we have so many states that have Legal recreational marijuana. I find it hard to celebrate that but I'll take whatever progress that we can get that that's better than nothing Sure, but you know, it's astonishing because you see how popular marijuana is and Yet no major party is adopting this on their platform Isn't that astonishing like zero of the two main parties support legalizing marijuana? The closest that we have is the Democratic Party Joe Biden Kamala Harris supporting decriminalization like 15 states are now past that I mean, why does it take so much time for politicians to catch up with where the rest of the country is? It's frustrating now on top of that Oregon broke new ground my state I am just so thrilled with the results. Not only did we vote to legalize medical mushrooms We overwhelmingly voted to decriminalize all drugs I repeat all drugs and this won by 17.6 points and as organ live explains Oregon made history Tuesday night in the movement to reconsider the nation's war on drugs by becoming the first state to decriminalize small amounts of heroin and other street drugs voters overwhelmingly supported measure 110 a coup for the New York based Drug Policy Alliance the same criminal justice reform group that backed Oregon successful marijuana legalization effort in 2014 Peter Zuckerman campaign manager for measure 110 called the win a big step forward Today is a huge day of celebration But the work is not over and we have a lot more work to do to win a better system for everybody He said so I'm thrilled with this and let me tell you that when we voted to legalize recreational marijuana back in 2014 It really took a lot of convincing people in my own social circles were really hesitant about this and now that it passed It is extremely extremely popular People who thought they'd never try pot They did because you could walk into a store and easily buy as much as you want basically As much as you need at least for a while Um, and so since that was so successful It didn't take much to convince people like I don't know anyone in my immediate social circles Including people who are conservative who were against decriminalizing all drugs and anyone who is a little bit reluctant All I do is point them to this article from the guardian where it talks about how Portugal when they decriminalized drugs back in 2001 the results that we're seeing now are stunning. They're effective This is the way to go. So, you know, all it takes is a little bit of progress And the dam will burst open, you know, it leads to more and more good policies So now that we are decriminalizing drugs in Oregon once we prove that it's effective if we can do that Which I think we will you are going to see more states follow suit And I'm going to predict colorado washington state dc. These are going to be the next ones who are going to To go this direction as well. Um, now let's talk about some other really interesting ballot initiatives So in portorico portoricans narrowly voted to become a us state Now this doesn't mean that they have statehood immediately But what this does mean is that they will now pursue statehood by appointing a seven member commission and by developing a transition plan In order to become an actual state now if you are a democrat This is good news. If you are not a republican, I should say anyone who's on the left socialist This is good news because if they were to become another state That means we get two more senators and that's just if we're talking with regard to self-interest But now people in portorico if they actually have a chance To become part of the united states They would get full citizenship representation So I think this is great, but this was always up to them to decide. We don't get to decide for them It's about self-determination and it seems as if they want to become a state I think this is great now. Additionally in nevada voters approved question six which requires utilities to acquire 50 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2030 This isn't necessarily revolutionary, but it's a huge step in the right direction and I really applaud them for this Also in florida, they voted to approve a $15 an hour minimum wage Although there's kind of a catch by 2026 so starting in september of 2021 it'll increase to ten dollars then in 2022 11 dollars 2023 12 dollars so on so forth until it reaches 15 dollars This is good news. Don't get me wrong, but by the time it's actually 15 dollars an hour It will need to be 20 25 dollars an hour depending on where you are in florida So we've been fighting for 15 for so long that now we need to ask for a lot more But this is this is progress, right? It's incremental progress at this point, but it's progress nonetheless But it's good. It's a good thing and what it shows is that when you put progressive issues on the ballot More often than not voters are going to opt for the progressive option But not always so in the state of louisiana They had a vote on whether or not they'd amend their constitution to ban abortion effectively Including that there is no right to abortion in their constitution amendment 1 passed so this means that in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned The state of louisiana will automatically and immediately have an abortion ban In effect since this is now going to be codified in their constitution this past and That's really disappointing because the people who are voting for this They think that oh well if we just ban abortion that's going to stop it But they don't apply that same logic to guns. They think that liberals want to ban guns But they say oh well if you if you do that it's just going to lead to you know the black market being emboldened They don't also apply this to drugs and whatnot, but what is this going to do? This isn't going to stop the number of abortions. This will just increase the number of unsafe illegal abortions Which means that women are going to be hurt by this if roe v. Wade does in fact get overturned Now we don't know but this is them putting their foot forward saying We just got away for the supreme court to do its thing and abortion is illegal immediately under our state constitution very disappointing because this result is It's barbaric. It's irrational If you want to stop abortions from happening. There's a very easy way to do that you fund sex education You allow people to access contraception Give it away for free That's how you stop abortions not by banning it because you're not banning you're not stopping abortions by banning them You're just making them take place under the shadows Now there is another referendum That happened in massachusetts that i was ecstatic about in maine in 2018 They passed ranked choice voting and i predicted back then that we will now see the domino effect as we did with pot legalization When washington and colorado did that and so massachusetts had a ranked choice voting On the ballot and for whatever reason they voted against it. They voted against giving themselves More of a say more options without worrying about the spoiler effect This is astonishing It doesn't make sense But anyone who's from massachusetts If you voted against this you don't get to complain about the spoiler effect anymore You don't get to complain about the two-party duopoly Because you just voted to make that a reality. What are you thinking now? I don't know what the ad campaign Both campaigns were like maybe there was a lot of propaganda and misinformation, but either way this is a result that is Irrational to say the least Embarrassing i'm sorry. This is embarrassing if organ voted down ranked choice voting I would be deeply disappointed in my state But propaganda and misinformation and big money oftentimes leads to a result That doesn't go um in The reasonable pro labor way because california's proposition 22 passed Which exempts companies like uber and lyft from treating their drivers as employees So as cnn explains in a major win for gig economy companies cnn projects california voters have passed a costly and controversial ballot measure To exempt firms like uber and lyft from having to classify their gig workers in the state as employees rather than as independent contractors Backed by more than 200 million dollars from uber lyft Door dash insta cart and uber owned postmates proposition 22 or prop 22 is the costliest ballot measure in california's History according to ballot pedia underscoring how important its passage was to the future of their businesses Uber and lyft stocks are both up over 11 percent on the news. Yeah, so this is anti worker These drivers are employees of these companies And people in california probably because they were duped by lots and lots of misinformation and propaganda Voted against having these companies treat employees as employees preposterous So I hope that this is either overturned or the legislature in california takes action because This is ridiculous now this um initiative or this proposition. I should say I think that The catalyst for this was actually state action from the legislature So we'll see how this plays out But the fact that californian voters fell for this it's really frustrating now I think that this is a little bit of self-interest because the fear mongring at least that i'm familiar with is that Oh, well if we do this if we force uber and lyft to treat their drivers as employees, well then the costs will go up And for me, I don't want to deal with that. So i'm not a uber driver. So uh, fuck it Let's let's vote in favor of these big companies It's disappointing and we see the same type of sentiment Which I think is misguided when it comes to the minimum wage or at least we did before where people would say look I don't want the minimum wage to increase because that means that there's going to be inflation When in actuality the way that the minimum wage has been implemented the 15 dollar an hour minimum wage in cities across the country It hasn't led to that. It's had phenomenal results. So, you know, the big money Individuals in this race uber lyft. They were victorious now prop 17 in california. Uh, they voted to re-enfranchise felons excellent news excellent news, um You can't have a democracy if you do not have um universal suffrage You you just can't it's not a thriving democracy If a large portion of the population can't vote So the fact that they expanded eligibility and made it so felons can vote This is a win for democracy. This is this is great So overall we had some really gigantic revolutionary steps forward pass at the state level But you know, it's not a hundred percent victories, but overall I'm really excited at least when it comes to you know, uh recreational marijuana We are moving forward in this country regardless if you know, the national government Isn't doing anything But you know, you win some you lose some ranked choice voting passed in main didn't pass in massachusetts Maybe going forward we can educate more people about this either way Not too bad for ballot initiatives for the left and it proves that You know, if you are bold and unapologetically progressive more often than not You're going to strengthen your position make it more likely that you win because in a state like florida Where joe biden loses, but a $15 an hour minimum wage Passes i mean even though joe biden supports that He should have been running ads in florida Championing the $15 an hour minimum wage. So I think that you know, I hope That democratic party strategists pull their heads out of their asses and see That these types of ballot initiatives, they're very popular. So if you don't adopt this into your platform, you are hurting yourself