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mattgm1995 t1_j7pmcld wrote

I expect this out of Alabama, not MA. Democrats in MA have super majorities in the house and senate, they have the SJC, and the governors office. They can pass anything they want here unilaterally (and could have done the right ting during Baker since they had the numbers to override a veto) It’s just a matter of if they care enough to do the right thing.

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TurnsOutImAScientist t1_j7ppdyd wrote

> It’s just a matter of if they care enough to do the right thing.

It's a matter of pushing policies that police unions are opposed to, and this is apparently pretty difficult around here.

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mattgm1995 t1_j7psa0b wrote

Super. Majority. Every. Single. Elected. High. Office. This has to be the end of excuses

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nottoodrunk t1_j7q39k8 wrote

I think a lot of people are going to realize in the next couple months that the MA legislature is the height of complacency.

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Stomp_Pigs_Out t1_j7qhgkg wrote

Just look at the swarm of low level pushers enabling cop corruption, wealth disparity, on and on. The puritans here are conservative. Just because the sea of red rot that is American shifts a frame of reference doesn’t mean much. Yet here we are with all the swindled crying out about how liberal it is/ they thought it to be. Typical murrica. Heads up their asses. Clueless and beaten down. “Be grateful for what you have though1!!!!! 🥴

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sciencegeniusgirl t1_j7q3c5a wrote

I understand the sentiment but places like Massachusetts often ride high on the smug “we aren’t like those backwards states.” And in some regards, it’s true. But in others, we are no better than the backwoods good ole-boys of the Deep South…especially when it comes to the criminal justice system. Look at incarceration rates by race in this state and you can see a trend. For a state not necessarily known for its racial diversity, it sure does lock up a hell of a lot of black and brown people.

If you’re interested, there’s a great book called “When a Heart Turns Rock Solid” by Timothy Black that profiles the lives of three Puerto-Rican brothers who grew up in Springfield in the ‘80’s and ‘90s. It really pulls the curtain back on “liberal” Massachusetts and it’s garbage-ass policies that have truly decimated entire communities and generations of families.

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legalpretzel t1_j7sbz8i wrote

We have FAR worse rates re: foster care placements and DCF interventions than many red states. Our state is renowned for having an abysmal child welfare system.

We do great on children’s welfare in general, but horribly on metrics involving children in poverty and children in foster care and family reunification.

https://friendsofchildreninc.org/failing-our-kids/

Edit: if you don’t want to click the link the basic message is that children in foster care would be better off in ANY other state than in MA.

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sciencegeniusgirl t1_j7sdu50 wrote

Couldn’t agree more. None of that is surprising to me; depressing, yes—but surprising, absolutely not. Mass likes to masquerade itself as some “liberal paradise” but the systems here can be so entirely fucked for so many people. It’s the smugness of some people here who act so haughty when speaking of other, more traditionally red states. People often bring up stats around the superiority of the Massachusetts public school system in relation to other places, for example. But if you peel back a few layers, you see how drastically different (read: worse) that public education can be based on what city/town you’re in or your zip code. It’s honestly exhausting trying to have these conversations with people who wear the rose-colored glasses and believe that this state is so superior.

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Stomp_Pigs_Out t1_j7qkrzk wrote

That’s because you’ve been fooled into thinking MA is progressive or liberal

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majoroutage t1_j7s9o0v wrote

Cash register go brrrrrr and very few politicians are actually interested in stopping that.

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