Back To The Soil

Doonesbury Oct 26, 2010

America was founded largely by farmers who lived independent of central government because they could grow their own food plus cash crops to buy tools and luxuries. The notion of liberty is firmly rooted in the self-sufficiency of family farmers who mind their own business and don't much care for a distant bureaucracy telling them how they should behave.

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood

Their flag to April's breeze unfurled

Here once the embattled farmer stood

And fired the shot heard round the world."

Is this revolutionary spirit still alive in the land or have we become a nation of craven sheep obedient to the will of the Great Big Shepherd in Washington, DC? Do you believe that some Mighty Master far away enjoys the right to tell you what you can or cannot grow on your own property?

There are many good arguments in favor of Proposition 19 (which would legalize the growing and use of marijuana for recreational--and scientific--use in the state of California). The Economists claim it would benefit the state by eliminating wasteful police and prison expenses as well as offering the state a new source of taxation. Others argue that making marijuana legal would put drug dealers out of business much as the ending of alcohol prohibition took away the profit motive from wannabe Al Capones.

But for me the best argument for the legalization of marijuana is that it should never have been made illegal in the first place.

Growing and consuming whatever I want in my own home is one of those inalienable rights set forth by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence. Are we free Americans or are we a nation of obedient sheep?

Back to the soil, I say. Put our many unemployed citizens back to work growing a crop that's so desirable that millions of ordinary Americans have risked imprisonment to use it.

If President Obama were a smart man he would welcome this new experiment in grass-roots democracy (similar to the long-term experiment in Holland that permits responsible adults to use cannabis). If Proposition 19 passes, Obama should proclaim: "The people have spoken. Let them have their way. If it's successful, we have learned that Californians are able to run their own lives in this regard without input from central authority. If negative results ensue, the Central Government does not lack the tanks, guns and soldiers to enforce the Old Way Of Doing Things."

Vote November 2 for a right that should never have been taken from us. Please vote YES on California Proposition 19.