California's marijuana decriminalization is a step in the right direction, but for the wrong reason.
Prohibitions never work. When one part of society tells another part of society not to do something, and they have no moral pretense for the imposition of their will because no actual crime occurred because nobody was harmed, then the immoral law will be ignored. Society loses respect for the law, because obviously some laws are unjust and the innocent are prosecuted and punished.
We should repeal the prohibitions and allow adults to make decisions for themselves so we can enjoy our liberty and learn from our mistakes.
The repeal of marijuana prohibition today is as certain as the repeal of alcohol prohibition was in 1933, and for similar reasons. California simply cannot afford to continue to burden their courts and prisons with non-violent offenders of an unjust law. The real pity is that we don't have a public discussion over the ethics, but rather we allow unjust laws to persist until the bloated state, teatering on the brink of bankruptcy, can no longer afford their tyranny. Instead of the full restoration of liberty and society learns a lesson, the prohibition disappears because it is no longer financially viable and it's replaced by a hefty $100 fine. Let's be honest and call that what it is. It's nothing but a sin tax to support big tyrannical government. Society says you shouldn't do this, but if you have money to buy an indulgence from the state, then it's OK. This policy discriminates along socioeconomic lines, but isn't that almost the defining statement for the human condition? It's the golden rule. He who has the gold, makes the rules.
It's difficult to celebrate California's marijuana decriminalization because it's not a big win for liberty. It's just a fiscally mandated relaxation on the reigns of power. The checkbook won't allow those in power to subjugate their citizens as much as they'd like. They may not be able to afford to throw people in jail for smoking pot, but they can sure tax the heck out of them to pay for more big government. Yea! Smoke up for liberty!
Following that natural line of tyranny, the state of California will soon realize they don't have the police resources to tax as many people as they'd like, and they'll follow the Gatewood plan. Marijuana will be completely legalized, just like alcohol and tobacco, and California will do what all states do with sin taxes... whatever the market will bear! They'll assess a $100 per ounce tax, with tax stamps and everything, just like alcohol and tobacco. $100 per ounce is still enough to support an illegal market for marijuana, just as we have now, and the same criminals will grow and distribute it. The only difference will be, instead of jailing them for violating anti-drug laws, they'll be jailed for tax evasion. Is that progress? Maybe a little, but I can't tell.
California Governor Signs Marijuana Decriminalization Bill
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/oct/01/california_governor_signs_mariju
by Phillip Smith, October 01, 2010, 03:25am
Posted in:
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Thursday signed into law a bill that decriminalizes the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. The bill reduces simple possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction.
Currently, small-time pot possession is "semi-decriminalized" in California. There is no possible jail sentence and a maximum $100 fine. But because possession is a misdemeanor, people caught with pot are "arrested," even if that means only they are served a notice to appear, and they must appear before a court.
That has happened to more than a half million Californians in the last decade, and more than 60,000 last year alone. Every one of them required a court appearance, complete with judge and prosecutor. That costs the cash-strapped state money it desperately needs.
Under the bill signed today, SB 1449, by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), pot possession will be treated like a traffic ticket. The fine will remain at $100, and there will be no arrest record.
In a signing statement, Schwarzenegger said he opposed decriminalization for personal use—and threw in a gratuitous jab at Proposition 19, the tax and regulate marijuana legalization initiative—but that the state couldn't afford the status quo.
"Gov. Schwarzenegger deserves credit for sparing the state's taxpayers the cost of prosecuting minor pot offenders," said California NORML director Dale Gieringer. "Californians increasingly recognize that the war on marijuana is a waste of law enforcement resources."
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
DHS & TSA - Look Behind The Curtain
(note: I so wish I could claim authorship of this but I can't, this was penned by Liberty4Ever some time ago, and it's too great not to share.)
Much of what is done under the guise of national security does not make any sense to most Americans. In order to understand, we need to look behind the curtain. Like so many things lately, DHS and TSA appear to be one thing, but they are something completely different.
If we look at the TSA detaining an eight year old boy because his name is on the No Fly list, or we look at a woman forced to drink her own expressed breast milk to prove it isn't toxic or explosive, or we look at quilt artists forced to deface their art in order to keep their promise to be at an event, or we wonder at a long line of adults taking their shoes off and walking through airport security in stocking feet, or we look at Steve Bierfeldt being detained and harassed and cussed at and threatened because he was transporting some of the Campaign for Liberty's money through an airport, or we look at septuagenarian women detained as drug trafficking suspects, then it's difficult to see any reasonable explanation for the government's behavior.
Our confusion is caused by the context. In the context of providing security, these actions make no sense at all. Whenever the pretense doesn't fit the observable facts, we should look at the events and infer a context under which the government's actions do make sense.
The primary goal of the Department of Homeland Security is not homeland security, and the primary goal of the Transportation Security Administration is not transportation security. Most of the people who work in those bureaucracies probably believe those are their jobs, so they must hire people with a high threshold for logical fallacy and institutionalized bureaucratic stupidity.
The primary purpose of the DHS and TSA and their reason for being is to intimidate people and acclimate them to the idea that they have no individual rights and they must obey the government no matter how ridiculous the government demands may be.
If Simon says, "Put your hands on your head!", then you put your hands on your head.
If Simon says, "Spread your feet apart!", then you spread your feet apart.
If Simon says, "Put your hands behind your back!", then you put your hands behind your back.
If Simon says, "Get on the boxcar!", then you get on the boxcar.
If Simon says, "Get off the boxcar!", then you get off the boxcar.
If Simon says, "Dig a ditch!", then you dig a ditch.
If Simon says, "Form a line next to this ditch!", then you form a line next to the ditch.
Got it?
It all makes sense once you see the real purpose behind the publicly stated purpose.
Why else would there be signs at airport security areas informing us that it's a federal crime to make a joke about the airport security procedures? If we look behind the curtain and laugh at the Great and Powerful Oz, then he loses all of his power.
WAKE UP! YOU'VE OVERSLEPT! IT'S ALMOST TOO LATE TO FIX YOUR COUNTRY!
Much of what is done under the guise of national security does not make any sense to most Americans. In order to understand, we need to look behind the curtain. Like so many things lately, DHS and TSA appear to be one thing, but they are something completely different.
If we look at the TSA detaining an eight year old boy because his name is on the No Fly list, or we look at a woman forced to drink her own expressed breast milk to prove it isn't toxic or explosive, or we look at quilt artists forced to deface their art in order to keep their promise to be at an event, or we wonder at a long line of adults taking their shoes off and walking through airport security in stocking feet, or we look at Steve Bierfeldt being detained and harassed and cussed at and threatened because he was transporting some of the Campaign for Liberty's money through an airport, or we look at septuagenarian women detained as drug trafficking suspects, then it's difficult to see any reasonable explanation for the government's behavior.
Our confusion is caused by the context. In the context of providing security, these actions make no sense at all. Whenever the pretense doesn't fit the observable facts, we should look at the events and infer a context under which the government's actions do make sense.
The primary goal of the Department of Homeland Security is not homeland security, and the primary goal of the Transportation Security Administration is not transportation security. Most of the people who work in those bureaucracies probably believe those are their jobs, so they must hire people with a high threshold for logical fallacy and institutionalized bureaucratic stupidity.
The primary purpose of the DHS and TSA and their reason for being is to intimidate people and acclimate them to the idea that they have no individual rights and they must obey the government no matter how ridiculous the government demands may be.
If Simon says, "Put your hands on your head!", then you put your hands on your head.
If Simon says, "Spread your feet apart!", then you spread your feet apart.
If Simon says, "Put your hands behind your back!", then you put your hands behind your back.
If Simon says, "Get on the boxcar!", then you get on the boxcar.
If Simon says, "Get off the boxcar!", then you get off the boxcar.
If Simon says, "Dig a ditch!", then you dig a ditch.
If Simon says, "Form a line next to this ditch!", then you form a line next to the ditch.
Got it?
It all makes sense once you see the real purpose behind the publicly stated purpose.
Why else would there be signs at airport security areas informing us that it's a federal crime to make a joke about the airport security procedures? If we look behind the curtain and laugh at the Great and Powerful Oz, then he loses all of his power.
WAKE UP! YOU'VE OVERSLEPT! IT'S ALMOST TOO LATE TO FIX YOUR COUNTRY!
It's all about the money
We all know this, inherently. What most of us fail to understand is that it is the function of money, not the accumulation, that has us captured in a system that works against us.
Here's a really intense fifteen minute video that will explain some of this. This is a talk given to a group of Russian bankers, who understand their jobs, but not so much the system they are a part of. Kind of like most Americans.
This is a bit much to absorb to the uninitiated, but if you will stick with me and learn, you can learn the root of the debt problem, and how deep and wide this hole truly is. We are at a point where we will be forced to stop digging this hole, and we all need to understand this better and stand together to form a wall of resistance. All the talk about freedom in the world will not help should we fail to do this.
I will post more and more about the currency issue, and if you will stick with me you can learn rather quickly. The reason this "recession" is so terrible is that it is a currency crisis, and how we come out on the other side of it will make all the difference in the world, and in history.
Please join me on an educational journey.
Here's a really intense fifteen minute video that will explain some of this. This is a talk given to a group of Russian bankers, who understand their jobs, but not so much the system they are a part of. Kind of like most Americans.
This is a bit much to absorb to the uninitiated, but if you will stick with me and learn, you can learn the root of the debt problem, and how deep and wide this hole truly is. We are at a point where we will be forced to stop digging this hole, and we all need to understand this better and stand together to form a wall of resistance. All the talk about freedom in the world will not help should we fail to do this.
I will post more and more about the currency issue, and if you will stick with me you can learn rather quickly. The reason this "recession" is so terrible is that it is a currency crisis, and how we come out on the other side of it will make all the difference in the world, and in history.
Please join me on an educational journey.
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Voice of Liberty
Liberty is the concept of ideological and political philosophy that identifies the condition to which an individual has the right to behave according to one's own personal responsibility and free will.
-Wiki
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