Abhimanyu Patel Professor Capps English 1A 16 November, 2014 Election 2014! Have you ever thought if your vote actually counts or not? If you think it doesn’t than you are being mistaken, each and every vote in the election is taken into consideration whether it is just to pass a proposition or it is the presidential election. There were a lot of propositions allotted for the present election but, proposition 46, as we all know, has turned out to be the most debatable proposition as it consists of two very strong sides. The proposition divides the two sides into a group of doctors who are against this proposition and the lawyers and the law firms who plan to support it. The proposition mainly suggests the doctors to take the drug and alcohol …show more content…
Proposition 46 quadruples the limit on medical malpractice awards in California, which will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year (“Proposition 46 Arguments and Rebuttals”). According to the authors of this article, if the proposition is passed, than basically it will be harmful for the common citizen like us, because if the lawyers get their way with the proposition than the medical and jury awards are going to skyrocket as they mentioned, and we as tax payers will eventually have to pay millions of dollars for no reason. In this scenario, there is technically no actual role of any law firms, but all they want is money and so they are going to try their best to manipulate the people because they are expert in that. This is where you got to be smart and choose the paths wisely and carefully, it is in your hands whether to spend the rest of your income on the taxes that you don’t actually even have to pay or to spend it on yourself and your children’s education and in grooming your life in a better way. Not only these law firms are manipulative, but also they exactly know the perfect time to use their words as lethal weapons against common people, and you, not knowing anything simply get hypnotized by what they tell and start assuming it to be true and authentic. So, you as a respectable citizen have to think critically before taking decisions and look at both the sides in an efficient manner and always choose wisely and
Learning from what Dr. Anna Pou had to face with the lawsuits she was dealing with makes me cringe. As Healthcare professionals, having to worry of possibly being sued for believing what is right for the patient or as a whole for the hospitals health is ridiculous. Healthcare professionals like Dr. Pou, have taken the Hippocratic oath, and one of the promises made within that oath is “first, do no harm”. Often time’s society look at courts cases as a battle versus two oppositions, but Dr. Pou’s case it is not. In her statements from national television she states saying her role was to ‘‘help’’ patients ‘‘through their pain,’’.
When America was first established, they had the highest voting turnouts ever in American history. Ever since, America’s voting turn-out has dropped (Fortin). The reason for the high turn outs were because American colonists wanted change from the British’s electoral system. As history writes, American colonist rebel and over time becomes one of the greatest countries ever. Today, Americans are one of the worst countries in vote to registration as they rank 120 in the world (Pintor). Over the summer, I got to learn more about Ohio’s electoral system and voting turn outs in a first hand experience. A decreasing number of voting to registration is not only a national problem, but a local issue as well and there are creative ideas in fixing these
As you might already be aware there is a ballot initiative on this upcoming November’s election about drugs, and drug treatment. This measure is called Proposition 36. If this measure were to pass, state law would be changed, so that certain non-violent adult offenders who use or possess illegal drugs would receive drug treatment and supervision in the community, not prison. Right now California is ranked number one in the nation for its rate of imprisonment for drug offenders. If Proposition 36 passes, California could become number one for its treatment for drug offenders. The measure also provides state funds to counties to operate the drug treatment programs. Additionally, studies have shown that drug treatment is a far more effective than prison in reducing future criminal activity. Robert Roseman, a 51-year-old heroin addict from Sacramento says, “I was always able to get drugs in prison…all you’re going to learn in prison is to do crime better.”
Also known as California Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 made headlines around the country as the first law ever to change the legality of medical marijuana for public consumption statewide. Originating in San Francisco, it was passed by 55.6% of California voters on November 5, 1996 (Human Rights and the Drug War). The ideology behind passing Prop. 215 is that marijuana contains a number of legitimate medical uses and should be made available to those who would benefit from it. The text of the proposed law states that “seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate” (NORML, 2009). All patients possessing a reasonable amount of marijuana are protected and may use it at any time as long as it is done privately. However, before patients can begin using marijuana they must seek approval from a physician who are also protected under the law and cannot be persecuted for issuing a recommendation. The authors also realized there would need to be a safe and reliable source to obtain marijuana and intended Prop. 215 to encourage both “the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana” (NORML). In addition to purchasing it, Prop. 215 also allows patients to cultivate their own plants but strictly for personal use only. Any evidence of distributing marijuana or growing more plants than needed for personal use carries a high risk of prosecution.
Abramsky then goes on to discuss in the article how liberal politicians, Betty Yee and Tom Ammiano, are pushing for a bill to change the drug laws and legalize marijuana. Yee wants to excise “fees on business owners applying for marijuana licenses, impose an excise tax on sellers and charge buyers a sales tax” and if that is done the right way, she believes that the state could gain “about $1.3 billion a year” Timothy Lynch, writing in the conservative magazine the National Review, writes about how the drug war has not made very much progress and has essentially failed. Lynch writes about how voters in California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Alaska, and Maine that have rejected ideas to improve the war on drugs and instead they “approved initiatives calling for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes” (40). Lynch also writes that “the supply of drugs has not been hampered in any serious way by the war on drugs” (41).
Among the many ways Americans can participate in politics, voting is considered one of the most common and important ways for Americans to get involved. The outcome of any election, especially at the national level, determines who will be making and enforcing the laws that all Americans must abide by. With this in mind one might assume that all Americans are active voters, but studies show the voter turnout is actually astonishingly low. With this unsettling trend it is important to know what statistics say about voter turnout as was as the four major factors that influence participation: Socioeconomic status, education, political environment, and state electoral laws, in order to help boost turnout in future elections.
The controversy of legalizing marijuana has been raging for quite a while in America. From some people pushing it for medical purposes to potheads just wanting to get high legally. Marijuana has been used for years as a popular drug for people who want to get a high. All this time it has been illegal and now it looks as if the drug may become legal. There has been heated debate by many sides giving there opinion in the issue. These people are not only left wing liberals either. Richard Brookhiser, a National Review Senior editor is openly supportive of medical marijuana yet extremely conservative in his writing for National Review (Brookhiser 27). He is for medical marijuana since he used it in his battle with testicular cancer. He says "I turned to [marijuana] when I got cancer because marijuana gives healthy people an appetite, and prevents people who are nauseated from throwing up. "(Brookhiser 27) Cancer patients are not the only benefactors from the appetite enhancer in marijuana, but so are any other nauseous people. Arizona and California have already passed a law allowing marijuana to be used as a medicinal drug. Fifty Six percent of the California voters voted for this law. "We've sent a message to Washington," says Dennis Peron. "They've had 25 years of this drug was, and they've only made things worse." (Simmons 111) The Arizona proposition garnished an even wider margin of separation between the fore's an against in a sixty five percent support tally. Ethan Nadelmann insists that " these propositions are not about legalization or decriminalization. They're about initiating some non radical, commonsense approaches to drug policy." General Barry McCaffery disagrees saying, "I...
Health care has always been an important issue within the United States, resulting in hours of grueling conversations and arguments to better that which we already have. Most often words on the vine dictate that our health care is never going to improve if the government continues as they are with money hungry politicians. What better way to solve the issue of health care in the United States that to put one Sacramento politician in charge of the approval of all medical insurance and such...or so one may think. Proposition 45 is currently a big debate among the possibly affected states within America, a heated debate to be noted. Most of the people who have joined this debate are in unison with their votes of NO on Prop 45, and it is not
Mandatory voting should not be enforced in the United States because it would contradict democracy by limiting the basic rights stated in the constitution. Though compulsory voting would increases voter participation, there is no guarantee that it would actually legitimize democracy because the votes cast by the uneducated, indifferent voters would not accurately display the public.
The California proposition 57 is one of the most controversial measures in this presidential election. Prop. 57 would expand opportunities on parole for nonviolent offenders and suggests that they are the judges, not prosecutors, who decide when an adolescent older than 14 years of age should be tried as an adult. If proposition 57 were to pass, the Governor said that more than 7,000 criminals could qualify, but only 10% would come out of prison early. Annually we spend about $36,000 per person to keep them in jail and we are spending about 9,000 per year for each student to keep them in school, then there is a problem, if we invest more in schools and less prisons then chances are that crime is decreasing.
Since the establishment of our great country, Americans utilized the ballot box as a freedom of expression. Voting is a basic right that many of us take for granted, some even viewing it as a “God given right.” As citizens, we expect the right to vote. Many oblivious to the fact that voting is a privilege that can be revoked. The process, commonly referred to as disenfranchisement, is the principle reason for my summary. Today more than ever, one of America's post-election concerns is voter turnout. Usually, the numbers are bleak, especially during local elections. As a society, we cannot afford to turn our back on one of the pillars of a democracy. If elected officials are to represent segments of voters, then people from all lifestyles need to be able to participate in the process. As a Republic, our elected officials carry the message of their constituents, uniting many voices into one. This is not the case for some segments of society. Major findings show that over an estimated 5.2 million Americans have lost the right to vote. (Lance 2008) Many of these Americans are members of minority groups. The process that makes disenfranchisement possible has been in practice for centuries. The law states that once you have become a felon you lose your right to vote. This applies even after their release into society. Further aggravating the issue is society’s current tough stance on lawbreakers, which has converted what were once misdemeanors into felonies. The result has been record amounts of prison inmates across the United States, resulting in millions of Americans who hold no voice in their future. The argument made is that these men and women have been reduced to living in the shadows of society. On the other si...
I believe that the single most important societal problem currently is voting right restrictions. November is quickly coming upon us, so does the right to cast our votes for whoever we believe to be the best candidate for the oval office. However, new voting right restrictions will make the voting process harder for certain groups. These laws will affect of upwards to millions of potential voters this coming election. We all have the right to vote. The government also has the right for certain groups to make that ballet harder to cast. The reason that voting right restriction is so important is because it stops numerous people from voting, a specific group of people were targeted, and the reason the law was made is wrong.
The protection of life has been a foundation for many laws and social mores and legalizing euthanasia cheapens that protection. A recent challenge to this idea came in a London lawsuit when two severely disabled men claimed their protected human rights were violated because they could not choose how and when to die. The British Court ruled that while the current laws did not support the rights the men claimed, “the ban on euthanasia is justified” (Cheng 1). In this lawsuit, the right to live won above the so-called right to die because a law that was enacted by the people of Britain was protected. Had the case won, the laws that British voters approved to protect life, would have been cast away. Similarly in the United States, many bills to promote euthanasia have died once voters were informed of the debate. Initiative 119, which would have legalized euthanasia in Washington in 1991, at first show...
Colorado’s Proposition 106, or more commonly known as “The Right to Die” would at this moment make it perfectly legal for physician-assisted suicide in Colorado. The creation of this proposition is to give individuals who are terminally ill a chance have another option than what is considered a painful and slow death. By giving them a medication that would provide them with a chance to end their own life. By believing that by taking this additional option gives the families’ of these individuals a chance not having to witness their loved one slowly fade away. Furthermore not having to deal with extravagant medical costs in search of treatment.
This new “Right to Try” bill is being passed a little bit differently in Arizona versus the other three states. Voters in Arizona get to have a say this time around. In the previous states the state legislature voted whether they thought the bill ought to be passed or not. Voters should educate themselves on the contents of the proposed bill before making a decision, because even though this is a miracle for those who have exhausted all aspects of care, it could also potentially put them at risk for advancing the disease even further. (Ogden, W)