> But I wonder why it is that the state of California was progressive enough to legalize marijuana but can't get something like this done? The current punch line is "This isn't a problem in North America if you are Canadian."[1] so why is that the case in California?
We'll see. Ironically, and optimistically, the attack on the ACA at the federal level might push California voters towards supporting universal health coverage.
But marijuana is a different issue than healthcare, because in order to legalize it, you don't need to tax the haves more. It's only opposed by social conservatives, who are not a huge contingent in CA.
Universal coverage in CA, however, would need to involve some form of redistribution downwards (just like the ACA did), and many Californians aren't as progressive when it comes to that. You see this same phenomenon in NIMBY anti-development housing policies, and in the underinvestment in public education.
The demographics of this tendency are strange, too. The older generation has a strong skew against progressive social policies, but sometimes young, well-to-do, and childless people are also opposed to more downward redistribution, because the things that some of the progressive policies affect (healthcare, education, etc), are a non issue for them (at least so far).
We'll see. Ironically, and optimistically, the attack on the ACA at the federal level might push California voters towards supporting universal health coverage.
But marijuana is a different issue than healthcare, because in order to legalize it, you don't need to tax the haves more. It's only opposed by social conservatives, who are not a huge contingent in CA.
Universal coverage in CA, however, would need to involve some form of redistribution downwards (just like the ACA did), and many Californians aren't as progressive when it comes to that. You see this same phenomenon in NIMBY anti-development housing policies, and in the underinvestment in public education.
The demographics of this tendency are strange, too. The older generation has a strong skew against progressive social policies, but sometimes young, well-to-do, and childless people are also opposed to more downward redistribution, because the things that some of the progressive policies affect (healthcare, education, etc), are a non issue for them (at least so far).