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this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2024
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Great, in a country where smoking rates have steadily declined across all major demographic groups since the 70's, this is the kind of legislation we are worrying about.
Forget about actually pressing issues like the crushing student debt and college costs, general consumer debt, soaring medical costs, soaring housing costs, homelessness in major cities, the genocide in Palestine, the growing environmental crisis, the erosion of civil liberties and labor rights... But we gotta talk about banning Menthol cigarettes...
You know they can work on more than one thing at once, right? And the administration has more control over some things than others.
You don't have unlimited political capital. This shit pisses people off and that costs you votes. Pick and choose a lane that matters instead of this worthless intrusion and grandstanding.
Can they though? Hows this congresses track record on passing bills in a timely manner?
Congress is actually the perfect example. Most of the time spent on a bill is just waiting. If they didn't work on multiple bills at the same time, it would be even slower.
We should pass whatever good regulation we can. This is good regulation
Nope, wasting time and resources on ineffective legislation doesn't make sense.
Sounds good to me, gancho.
2024 and people are still arguing for prohibition. Christ 🤦♂️.
War on drugs doesn't work
This looks like an example of relative privation. There's no way for us to all agree on what's a "good" cause. There are so many things people fight for, so many wrongs to right. We'll never agree on the one that's the worst, and if that's the only metric we use for problem solving - that we solve the worst problem we can, and only that problem, we'll end up spending our time trying to solve the problem of what problem to solve and never actually do anything.
The reality is that we can work on many things at once. We can push something that will have a decent impact, such as attempting to cut cigarette consumption, while ALSO working on homelessness, famine, fascism, etc.
I'll happily engage with you on why banning cigarettes may not be a good idea, but it's not because we could be better spending our time on other "more important" matters.
Enacting legislation requires time and resources, it isn't a cost-free activity. If you are spending those resources on one thing, you are reducing the ability to use them on other things, so you have to be strategic.
Banning menthol cigs is a very bad use of those resources. Consumers in general hate bans. If those bans aren't universal, they just create resentment in the population and incentives for people to create alternatives that in many cases are just as bad or worse.
In an election year where the Democratic party already is not in a strong position, it is idiotic to waste precious resources pushing for a ban on menthol cigs.
The utilitarian argument doesn't work; smoking rates across demographics have been steadily declining for decades. And menthol cigs are not drastically more addictive or dangerous than any other cigarettes.
The popular demand argument doesn't work either, because there aren't large swaths of the voter base that are calling for menthol cigs to be banned.
Well, Biden isn’t holding up the student debt forgiveness programs. The environmental crisis can’t be solved by a single administration. He has done a few things regarding medical debt, like convincing credit companies to wipe 70% of bad medical debt from credit records and prevent them from listing new ones under certain thresholds. He also worked to expand the ACA so more people could get Medicaid. The American Rescue Plan allocated $10 billion to assist unhoused individuals. He increased Pell grants for college. He proposed free community colleges (it did not pass). Voting Rights Advancement Act. Executive actions to prevent discrimination of LGBT. He is currently trying to get the national minimum wage up to $15/hr.
Yeah his actions and inactions regarding Israel and Palestine have been very poorly received.
So, ya know, there are things happening. This is one thing. You should blame the media for focusing on it, not Biden for suggesting it.
The FDA literally cannot change the cost of college or medical services. They are not allowed to.