Tag Archives: Rick Stewart

Marijuana: Legalize it!

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During my 38 years as a politician and activist, I’ve frequently been out of step with mainstream opinion on controversial issues. One of those is cannabis. After meeting Carl Olsen in 1992 during my first legislative campaign, I agreed to help push legislation to legalize marijuana.

Carl’s my guest on the first segment of this week’s program — and a veritable encyclopedia of weed wisdom. Carl has spent his adult life pushing to decriminalize marijuana. He understands the ins and outs of federal and state drug policy better than anyone I know.

With Carl’s guidance, in 1993 I was one of ten House members — nine Democrats and one Republican — who introduced HF 404. That bill would have authorized the lawful possession of marijuana for therapeutic purposes. Not surprisingly, in the Republican-controlled Iowa House, it went nowhere. Continue Reading →

An Immodest Proposal

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Consider the benefit of turning Iowa into one giant field! Nothing between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers — and nothing between the states of Missouri and Minnesota — but corn and beans!

The practical steps to accomplishing this might seem large. But since we’re already well on our way, a little bold thinking reveals a pathway.

First (as our pioneer forefathers and foremothers had to do), we must “clear the land.” Thankfully, this doesn’t require killing or displacing any Indigenous populations. Some native Iowans will have to move, but more on that later. Continue Reading →

How an industry took over a political party that took over the US

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Rosenwald talks about how, early on in his career, Limbaugh was a failure, being fired from one radio stint after another. Limbaugh wasn’t very political. He didn’t bother to vote until his 30s. It will probably surprise you that Rosenwald says, “Limbaugh was so entertaining that he would have been equally successful had he been a liberal.”

Ouch. Opportunity squandered … perhaps. Entertainment (and the advertising revenue it brought in) was Limbaugh’s bottom line. He had no political agenda at first, and often used, even abused, parody.

Once, by way of taking a shot at the Great Peace March (my first foray into social change work!), Limbaugh told his audience that if you play Una Paloma Blanca backwards you’ll hear the voice of the devil. Limbaugh knew he was making it up. Much of his audience believed it. Continue Reading →