Where is the Liberty, Freedom and "Persuit of Happiness" this country was founded on?

Anyone suffering from depression is welcome to use tobacco and alcohol to relieve their symptoms.

But if you choose to grow a little herbal medicine like marijuana, they'll throw you in prison and sell your home to pay the lawyers.

Where is the Freedom...?

Is this worth fighting for or fighting against...?

_________

A recent BBC news clarified the problem:

While reporting France's policy on religious attire one reporter remarked that"

The Founding Fathers of Democracy would roll over in their graves...

The other reporter replied:

But they VOTED on this matter. So it was "democratic".

_________

So what is the difference between democracy and "mob rule"?

Who controls the media which dictates "public opinion"?

Why are we so ignorant?

It's almost beyond belief...


Sincerely,
Stan Plock

*** Give me liberty or give me more PROZAC! ***

www.stanp2.50megs.com

Well, for starters, our country never was a democracy--post-Constitution U.S. has always been a representative republic. The only nod we give to democracy is the principle of one-man-one-vote.

I'm with you in that tobacco and marijuana should be either equally free or equally regulated, but marijuana never had the lobbying that tobacco did/does, and therein lies the difference and inequity.

Theoretically, your freedom stops where another's freedom begins, and courts were supposed to be established to resolve the conflict between one person's rights and anothers. No, things clearly don't work that way anymore.

Yes, it needs to be corrected, and yes, this perversion of what once was our lovely government needs to be fought against...which is why I'm a Nader girl. A vote for either Kerry or Bush is 4 more years of the same ole crap and a vote for a Libertarian will lose more of our jobs overseas (Still not sure what a Green vote'll getcha, Cobb hasn't even selected a veep yet, but I'll vote Green before voting Libertarian).

Yes, pure democracy is mob rule.

Media doesn't necessarily dictate public opinion as there are international broadcasters to be accessed with either the right radio or via the Internet...so...though it pains me to say this...

We are so ignorant because it's largely by choice.

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
Hypercrites

I think you all should look more closely at American History. Yes, WE were founded on words like "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness", but our constituion and the laws following also made it clear that those un-alienable rights were only available to white males who owned property. If you look hard and scratch bellow the surface you find that this country has never been about freedom for everyone, it's been about freedom for the ruling class to do whatever they deem necessary for their own good. It's a shame, but it's true.

-Demosthenes

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"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Yup, can't argue with a bit of that--but I will point out that our nation isn't what it used to be, and in many respects, that's a good thing. In many other respects, it's business as usual--the propertied, the assetted, are "more equal than others" (Orwell)

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
Hypercrites

Doesn't Orwell just scare the hell out of you sometimes?

-Demosthenes

__________________
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

1984 is good, Animal Farm is nice, Homage to Catalonia hilarious, his essays are horrible. After reading several of them, I can't tolerate any more Orwell.

1984 was brilliant, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is also good.

I've never read all of Animal Farm or Brave New World, I'll have to do that someday.

-Demosthenes

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"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Brave New World starts very well, IMO, but towards the end I found it becoming too weird. It has the same Big Brother engineered society theme as 1984. Though it's not as distopic and "scary" as 1984.

Animal farm is good, but it's very important to remember that nothing happens by "accident" in that story. All things that ocucr are linked... It's roughly an amusing satire of Soviet history.

Both books are recommended by me as well, as are the movies based on them...but read the books before you see the movies!

__________________
I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
Hypercrites