Template:Cannabis and the illusion of democracy in the USA

It takes a two-thirds majority in Congress to override a Presidential veto. The U.S. is unique in this among Western democracies.

Most Americans want cannabis legalized. See the large timeline of polling below. But the USA is a 1% kleptocracy run mostly by special interests and corporations (who are considered persons according to the law). As concerns cannabis: Big Pharma, police unions, private prisons, prison guard unions, alcohol and beer companies. The Prison-Industrial-Complex and the alcohol-drug monopoly. The modern Orwellian mind-constricting security state started by Just-Say-No Ronald (6) Wilson (6) Reagan (6). By the way, are you still waiting for that Reagan-Revolution wealth to "trickle-down" from the 1%?
 * The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal | Republic Report. April 20, 2012 article.

The government is literally run by a 40% minority. It is not a 50% plus one majority-rule democracy. It takes a 60% majority vote in the Senate to get past a filibuster. It is a self-imposed Senate rule not found in the Constitution that could be overturned at any time if the Republicrats chose to do so. Stopping the presidential dictatorship though would require changing the constitution to eliminate the Presidential veto that requires a two-thirds majority in Congress to override it. The only true simple-majority democracy left is at the state level with ballot initiatives, and it is in constant conflict with the Feds and U.S attorneys (who are independent players similar to Supreme Court justices).