Legalize Freedom!

Tomorrow marks 4/20, a day celebrated by proponents, but not limited to users, for the legalization of marijuana. In fact, just because someone advocates legalization does not mean one smokes. This is a dangerous misconception that has wrongfully silenced those opposed to the government telling you what you can do with your own body. Regardless of the isolation and mockery of advocates of legalization, more and more people are beginning to demand that marijuana first be decriminalized and then be legalized.  It's not a question of whether one does or does not support marijuana use; I personally do not endorse its use.  Rather, this is a matter of principle, and of government overstepping its moral and constitutional boundaries.

What gives?

The recent surge in legalization activism and the consequent relaxation of marijuana laws is founded upon two crucial pillars: 1. sound scientific and academic evidence; and 2. civil disobedience.

The marijuana debate has been raging for quite some time. It has typically been dominated by gross exaggerations, outright false claims, and statistical finagling by opponents, a feat that makes Climategate look insignificant. Surprisingly, most of this nonsense comes from the government and policy organizations who regularly panhandle to the government for more "funding" aka tax dollars.

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Eagles We Were, Eagles We Will Be Again

The following article is a response to Thomas Qualtere of The Heritage Foundation’s recent article “Hawks we are, hawks we must remain,” published on the Web site of The Daily Caller.

I rarely become truly angry when reading the opinion of a fellow human being. As should be obvious from my libertarian associations, I understand that free speech is inextricably linked with freedom. However, while I would never advocate for the silencing of one whose opinion I find little to no common ground with, I can still say that Thomas Qualtere of the Heritage Foundation’s recent article concerning the future of both foreign policy and conservatism in our nation deeply saddens me, and reinforces in my mind the importance of helping my fellow Americans gain an accurate understanding of the misguided foreign policy that has led our country into a cycle of perpetual war and violence from which it often seems there is no escape.

Qualtere attempts to address the question of where the youth of today should commit themselves in terms of creating the American foreign policy of tomorrow.  “We are the 9/11 generation,” he writes.  Qualtere states that we are a generation that should understand the cost of not confronting our enemies overseas, and that the lessons of 9/11 should be our call to fight for an American foreign policy that deals with our enemies where they live, rather than lets them come to strike us at home.

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Freedom Declined Worldwide In 2009

...according to Freedom House, a think tank which says that the world has seen new limitations on freedom across the globe in 2009. These declines have outweighed advances in liberty for the fourth year in a row.

Some of this year's major failures to promote freedom include unjust detention and torture in Iran, coups in Africa and Central America, and attacks on journalists in several countries like Pakistan, Somalia, and Mexico.

According to the author of Freedom House's report, democratic elections are nonetheless on the rise.  "Governments are more likely to permit relatively honest elections than to allow an uncensored press, a robust civil society, and an independent judiciary," he said.

Freedom House is a self described nonproft organization that supports any form of democratic change, monitors freedom around the globe, and advocates for human rights and democracy.

Freedom is never silly

Technological advancements have made many things in today’s society obsolete.  For instance, the typewriter has been replaced by the computer, many models of which have in turn been replaced by newer computers yet.  Cell phones continue to shrink even as their range of functions expands.  However, with every new month ringing in the “next big thing,” there is at least one commodity that will never become outdated: the Constitution of the United States. Many have argued that the Constitution has no bearing in the changing modern world.  Bill Kristol, a Fox News correspondent and Editor of Weekly Standard, has been quoted as saying that "[t]here is no way that a 200 year old document can have much relevance today…”
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