With so many states having legalized cannabis via referendum while bureaucrats and “representatives” in D.C. have done nothing, there’s a big lesson.

Let people vote directly on more issues, and concentrate those votes locally. We’re too centralized with most decision making.

Frankly, the presidency shouldn’t matter that much and neither should Congress. States and municipalities should matter more. That’s the best way to deal with the crazy polarization out there. Ironically, we need to decentralize to remain a country.

Colorado and Washington legalized cannabis in 2012. At that point South Dakota wasn’t ready. So people watched how the experiment went, and years later other states followed. Local experimentation. This is how America is supposed to work. More of this, less D.C.

I’ve becoming increasingly disillusioned with two things.

- Centralized governance (D.C.)
- Representative democracy (voting for someone to make decisions for you.

I’ve become more interested and in favor of.

- Local governance
- Direct democracy (focused at the local level)

To the extent “representatives” are needed, they should exist to carry out the will of the people as opposed to being decision makers themselves.

A major problem is when you bicker endlessly over marginal issues, you’ll never come together rationally on any big issues that lend themselves to a national approach.

Cannabis legalization across the country while the imperial government remains opposed is a rare black eye for the supremacy of the authoritarian centralized state. If it can be done there, it can be done on other issues. If we want to save this country, it will be done locally.

There seems to be less acrimony in the aftermath of local referendums irrespective of how they go. What really gets people angry is when “representatives” in D.C. sell them out, which happens nearly 100% of the time.