Lets look at the two Republicans who got closest to being POTUS in 2008 (and are arguably at the top of the GOP list of contenders to take on Obama in 2012):  our VP nominee Sarah Palin, and the person who came in 2nd place during the primaries Mitt Romney.  These two people (along with Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh) are the people who come to mind when the average American thinks about the GOP.

    Unfortunately, Palin is part of the reason why Republicans are being perceived as “religious fanatics”.  There is footage of her being prayed over by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for her protection from “witchcraft” as she prepared to run for Governor.  A church she attended advertised a program to “cure” homosexuals of their gayness.  And as mayor, she inquired about banning books from the library.  She has also turned her family into a poster for the Pro-Life and Abstinence causes with her Downs-Syndrome baby, and teenage daughter Bristol (positions based on her religious beliefs).

    Sarah Palin supporters argue that she is fully qualified to be president because she is Governor of a very large state. But Alaska has only half a million people in it (New York City has over 8 million, Los Angeles almost 4 million, Chicago 3 million), which is not very impressive.  She had a “down to earth” life story that sounded all-American and unpretentious last fall, but the controversy over all the money spent on her wardrobe during the campaign, and her recent book-deal have destroyed almost everything she had going for her in that department.

    The GOP seriously hurt its own credibility with the McCain/Palin ticket.  With McCain, we sold out our values by nominating a “maverick” who doesn’t possess a strong conservative core (I didn’t hear him complaining about TARP and the auto-bailouts); and with Palin, we sold out our self-respect by nominating somebody who was no more qualified to be VP than Obama was to be POTUS.  We will never hear the end of the jokes about Sarah’s ability to see Russia from Alaska qualifying as foreign policy experience.

    Mitt Romney is even worse because he is double the trouble.  He is part of an often misunderstood religion, and he is very wealthy.  He was so rich, he spent millions and millions of his fortune on his own campaign, and he STILL lost to John McCain.  He is exactly the kind of “fat cat tycoon” that the Left likes to point to (erroneously) as an example of how the GOP is the party of super rich people who are out of touch with the concerns of regular “working folks”.  

    In terms of Romney’s Mormon faith, I don’t know much about that religion or the role it plays in his life.  But what I do know is how the Mormon religion is perceived by the majority of Americans.  People hear Mormon, and they think “Big Love” and Polygamy.  They think Proposition 8 in California.  They think people going door to door with the “Book of Mormon” trying to “spread the word”.  In essence, they think, “Nut Case”.  This is exactly the kind of thing we DON’T want our party to be associated with.

    So what do we do now?  We could try to find somebody new.  Jindal, Sanford, Perry, or maybe somebody we haven’t heard of yet.  Somebody who has solid conservative beliefs, minimal baggage, unassociated with religious zealotry, was not part of any prior failed presidential campaigns, not a super rich person who has either made or inherited a ton of money, and doesn’t have the last name “Bush”.  We need somebody who can criticize Obama on issues and policies (not going on stupid “listening tours” like Romney or signing book deals and cozying up to Ms. California like Palin).  The only problem is, does such a person actually exist?

Peter Pan leads his gang of Lost Boys on an island called Neverland where they have adventures with Pirates, Mermaids, Indians and Fairies. He makes occasional visits to the real world where he meets real children and takes them away to Neverland to have adventures with him, but they always end up going back home and growing up, and he is once again left alone living in his endless childhood.

Liberals also live in a “Neverland” of sorts where they refuse to accept absolutes, cause and effect, personal responsibility, and the reality of life in general. They think they can live in a world where everything is relative, nothing is right or wrong (only shades of gray), anything is possible, everything is taken care of for them, and they do not have to suffer the consequences of their actions.

Let me break this down. Liberalism in the 21st century can be summed up by the following beliefs (obviously individual liberals will vary, but most of the following beliefs constitute their core beliefs). They are rooted in a Childish Desire to Do Whatever They Want To Whenever They Want To Without Consequences.


Abortion
Pro-Choice
“I want to be able to have sex without any Responsibility. If I or my partner get pregnant during the act of sex, I want to be able to UNDO, or GET RID of IT (the unborn baby).”

Welfare
Redistribution of Wealth
“I don’t want to have to be Responsible for taking care of myself. I want to live in an endless childhood where OTHER PEOPLE will have to pay for the house I live in, the food I eat, the clothes on my back, and any healthcare costs I may incur. Why should I have to grow up? The Government will be my Nanny.”

Gay Marriage
Changing the meaning of Marriage from a sacred institution between Man and Woman for the purpose of creating the foundation upon which to build a Family, to being just a contract between any two people
“I want to believe that anything is possible! Why can’t two people of the same sex naturally have a biological child together? Why should a baby need a Mom and Dad? Why not two Dads or two Moms? Lets play magic and make everything the same with the wave of our magic legislative wands!”

Amnesty
Giving Illegal Immigrants Citizenship Status
“I want to believe that there is no Right or Wrong. Why should sneaking into a foreign country without going through the proper process be Bad? Who cares about all the people who come here legally, they are dumb for following the rules. Why can’t we just bend the rules however we want to whenever we want to without any negative repercussions?”

Drug Legalization
Reducing penalties and even legalization for drug possession, especially marijuana
“Why should there be a Right and Wrong? Good and Bad? Why can’t I do things that are bad for me and hurt other people without any negative consequences?”


Liberal “Peter Pans” have the emotional maturity of little children. They completely refuse to take responsibility for their own actions, and as a result, refuse to punish anybody else for their actions. They want everybody to believe they are so CARING and COMPASSIONATE for wanting to give women the “Right to Choose”; pay for food/shelter/clothing/healthcare for the “Poor”; allow homosexuals to get married; granting illegal immigrants citizenship; and legalizing marijuana. But this is just a Façade to disguise their true motivation - to guarantee that they THEMSELVES will not be held accountable for anything they do in their own lives. If you create a world where there is no Responsibility, no Right or Wrong, no Good or Bad, you are living in the world of a CHILD.

Welcome to Neverland.

ABORTION
Good Intentions
Some people truly believe it is physically "unfair" that women can get pregnant from having sex, but men can't.  And that Abortion corrects that biological inequality.  They don't see how the ability to have children is an amazing gift entrusted to women (from God some would argue), and something that should be cherished, not viewed as some kind of negative "condition".  They think Abortion empowers a woman by giving her the "choice" to kill her unborn baby if she decides it's "not the right time" because she doesn't make enough money or isn't emotionally mature enough etc.  They ignore the right to LIFE of the unborn human baby.  I can tell you my parents were completely unprepared financially and emotionally when I was conceived.  But that didn't change my right to live.  Everybody has the right to be born and a chance to live no matter how screwed up their parents are.

Negative Effect
Abortion has eroded our society’s respect for human life.  Respect for human life is the foundation upon which Family and Society is built.  Abortion advocates have indoctrinated people to see the little unborn baby as a “thing” to “get rid of” like a pimple or a tumor instead of the precious and miraculous Human Life that it is.  And instead of welcoming the responsibility and joy of becoming a parent, or putting the baby up for adoption, they destroy that little life.  

WELFARE
Good Intentions
Welfare is the most insidious of Liberal "Good Intentions" because on the surface, it looks like a noble cause.  “To lend a hand to those who are struggling financially until they can stand up on their own two feet again”.  Except that isn't what happens at all.  Those who are on Welfare remain on Welfare because there is little incentive to get off Welfare when everything is being taken care of for them ad infinitum.  We need more Welfare Reform to stop the hand-outs and create incentives for people to get OFF Welfare, so it becomes a Last Resort, not a Way of Life.

Negative Effect
Welfare has also contributed to the destruction of the American Family, especially in the African American population.  I see this happening a lot here in Chicago.  Before Welfare, if a young girl got pregnant, it was a big deal because raising and caring for a Human Life takes a lot of  time and money.  Even with the help of the father, grandparents or other relatives, it's still a lot of work.  But Welfare eliminated the need for the father or extended family because now the Government would pay for everything (food, shelter, clothes, day care).  In fact, becoming a single mother is now lucrative for low-income girls (I've seen it first hand- some even act like they've won the lottery when they find out they are pregnant)- because they automatically have all their immediate needs taken care of by taxpayer money.  This has completely destroyed the Family.  There is no more need for a Husband and Father (because Uncle Sam pays for everything), and these babies grow up without a Dad, and without a father-figure many of them end up in jail.

GAY MARRIAGE
Good Intentions
Some Gay Marriage Advocates believe they are fighting for a cause like the Civil Rights Movement.  They equate gay people not being allowed to get married to the African American struggle against segregation (not being allowed to eat at "white-only" lunch counters, being forced to sit at the back of the bus) and racism (lynchings by the Klan).  This is absolutely absurd, and the comparison is an offense to the black struggle.  America is very "gay-friendly", and in many places they are even celebrated (San Francisco, Miami).  In places like Iran, gays are executed for their homosexuality http://bit.ly/OAHmE.  In America, they get their own parades.  

Some Gay Marriage Advocates argue that by not allowing Gays to get married, we are denying them the right to "Pursue Happiness", and by not allowing them to get Married, we are saying their relationships have less value.  I don't think their relationships have less value, I just recognize the fact that their relationships are different.  Gay Marriage Advocates ignore the fact that heterosexual relationships are NOT the same as homosexual relationships (homosexuals relationships do not produce biological children).  Heterosexual couples who are infertile and want children go to great lengths to try and conceive.  When they cannot, they can adopt a baby.  It is not the same as having their own baby, but that child is a lot better off with a nonbiological mom and dad than with no mom and dad at all, and the adoptive parents are able to experience the joys of parenthood even though the child is not biologically theirs.  I do not deny a child is probably better off with a gay couple raising them than in a foster home.  But I believe that in general, a child is better off with a Mom and Dad raising them than a gay couple (assuming both homes provide a stable and loving environment) because that is what nature intended (for a child to have a Mom and Dad).

Gay people who want children will always find a way to get them, either through artificial insemination or adoption.  It is their right to do so, but it is also their responsibility to explain to their children that their parents are homosexuals, that they came from a sperm bank or egg donor, that only one (or neither) of their parents are actually related to them, and that one or both of their biological parents are complete strangers (or a family friend).  It is not the job of the Government to put a "seal of approval" on what gay people do, or "legitimize" the choices they make in their lives.  

The majority of Americans believe marriage is between one man and one woman.  This is not a judgment against gays, but an affirmation of the Laws of Nature.  Homosexuality is an alternative lifestyle outside the normal Family Unit of Mom, Dad and Baby.  Gay Marriage undercuts the foundation of Family itself- the premise that children come from one woman and one man, and together they form a Family (one man and one woman fall in love, have sex (an act of love), have a baby (a product of their love) and raise the baby (a family)). 

Negative Effect
If Gay Marriage advocates are successful in redefining Marriage as being between any consenting adults (instead of the traditional definition of one man, and one woman), this opens the door to legitimizing polygamous relationships.  It advocates a relativist view of Family to include ANY combination of people, not just Mom, Dad, Child(ren).  It also does a disservice to gays and their children because it fails to recognize the fact that gays ARE different from straights (they are attracted to the same sex, not the opposite sex, and cannot have biological children with each other), and it lies to children by telling them it is all the same, because it isn't.

Gay Marriage Advocates are a vocal minority trying to hijack and redefine marriage so they can feel good about themselves and impose their secular relativist view of the world onto the Silent Majority (those who believe Marriage is a sacred institution between man and woman).  And they don't seem to care who they hurt (kids) or what they have to destroy (family) so they can force their selfishness on others.   Marriage is defined by Nature. Man and woman come together and have baby and raise family. That IS where idea of marriage comes from.  If being gay is the same as being straight, then gay love-making would produce babies.  You came from the combination of your Mom's egg and your Dad's sperm.  Regardless of if they raised you or not, they are and always will be your biological parents.  Marriage is between one man and one woman.  Anything else is something else. 

I don't believe homosexual relationships are inferior to heterosexual relationships.  I just recognize that there is a difference.  And for recognizing that difference, I get labeled as a bigot, hater and homophobe.  Really rational.  Homosexuals need to come to grips with who they are (gay) and recognize that they are unique individuals with their own talents and good qualities who need to make their way in the world like everybody else.  They need to learn to be happy for what they are on their own without redefining marriage.  It is wrong for them to make it our job to make them happy.  Gay Marriage Advocates thinking they can change Nature is an act of supreme self-centeredness and arrogance.  What they don't realize is that even if they make Gay Marriage legal in every single state in America, at the end of the day, they are still going to be gay.  And Family is STILL going to mean Mom, Dad and Baby.  It's not this way because I say so, but because that is just the way it is.

For more on Why I Believe Marriage is Between One Man and One Woman, read my previous blog of the same title http://bit.ly/24Qz.

Although I went to church with my parents every single Sunday, I never felt God’s presence.  As I sat in the pews, I kept hoping for a magical religious moment to consume me so I could feel what everybody else claimed to be feeling.  I mostly just doodled on the bulletins during the sermons and waited impatiently for “coffee time” when I could stuff my face with cookies.

Another puzzle for me was the big fuss people would make about The Bible.  To me, it was just a book written by people who lived thousands of years ago.  God himself did not write it.  Not even Jesus, although his words are recorded in the New Testament.  Regular Men wrote the Bible.  They were perhaps “Divinely Inspired”, but they weren’t Angels.

So when my apathetic youthful teenage self contemplated the Concept of “GOD”, I only saw silly humans desperately cobbling together stories and obsessive rituals in the hopes of finding meaning in their short pathetic little lives.  I had a World View where everything I did was futile, and nothing I did ever amounted to anything.  Nothing seemed to make any sense.  There was nothing to believe in, and nobody to depend on.  There were no Absolutes, no Good or Evil, no Right or Wrong, only different shades of gray.  My very existence on this earth seemed random and meaningless, especially after my parents split up. 

Then, three things happened that totally changed my perspective.

1) ALL ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
I committed a serious infraction while driving, and was slapped with a hefty fine with points taken off my license.  I remember standing there in court, totally shocked.  There was no explanation or rationalization I could use to get myself out of the situation I had found myself in.  I made a mistake, and I had to pay the price.  Up until that point in my life, I had never had to face the undeniable huge negative Consequence of something I had done.

2) ABSOLUTES
I started smoking while I was a teenager in high school, but promised myself I’d stop before I turned 20.  Well, it was a lot harder to quit than I thought it would be.  It took me an entire year of trying and failing over and over again, and I was only able to quit for good after I finally accepted the fact that there are Absolutes.  You can’t call yourself a nonsmoker if you still occasionally smoke.  If you have one cigarette a week, you’re still a smoker.  Dealing with the Absoluteness of quitting smoking was a very difficult reality for me to accept after having spent my entire life up until that point believing everything was relative.

3) GOOD AND EVIL EXIST
September 11, 2001 forced me to acknowledge the existence of Evil.  I finally came to terms with the fact that there are some people and things in this life that are Good, and some that are Evil (Bad).  Love, Honesty and Fidelity are Good things.  Hatred, Lying and Infidelity are elements of Evil.  The concept is simple, but I always thought such “black and white thinking” was for Weak and Simple-Minded people who didn’t understand the Nuances and Intricacies of the World.  Well, it turned out I had been the fool to believe there was a “Third Way”.  I had to acknowledge the fact that every action/inaction has an absolute consequence that is either Good or Bad.

I started to “judge” things.  I began looking at things and making judgments in my own mind based on my understanding of Good and Evil.  (Starting with America being a Good country, and Terrorists being Evil).  I began looking at my own life and saw that there were Good and Evil elements that existed in myself.  I realized although I had vowed it would never happen, I had turned into my parents!  Those were dark times for me.  It was painful to acknowledge to myself that I had certain traits that were Bad/Evil/Sins, whatever you want to call them.  The process of learning from my mistakes, correcting my bad habits and improving myself continues to this day.  I know I am not perfect, but I will always try to be a better person.

I came to find peace in the belief that even though my earthly parents had let me down, I had a “Father in Heaven”.  That He Created me, not my parents.  And He Created me in a very specific way (the way I look, my unique personality, talents and abilities), and put me here on this Earth for a Purpose.  And my job as his Child is to dedicate my life to doing whatever it is that I was Created to do.  And by doing that I will make myself happy, fulfill my purpose in life, make my Heavenly Father (God) happy, and spread happiness to my friends, loved ones, and beyond.

Around the time I started feeling the presence of God, I began to see and appreciate The Bible.  These stories were written by mortals, but they have survived the test of time and been passed down from generation to generation.  People that lived Thousands of years ago heard these same stories, and saw themselves in them, and related to them as we do now, because they contain undeniable Truths about Human Beings, and the World in which we live.

For example, lets take a look at Genesis.  In the beginning, there was Nothing.  Then God created light and darkness, day and night, earth and water and sky, plants and animals.  And then He created Man in his Own Image.  He created a Garden of Earthly Delights (Eden) for Man to run around and have fun in.  But Man was lonely so God took his rib and made Eve.  And the two of them ran around having fun in the Garden totally naked.  They didn’t need to work because everything they needed was provided for them.  But the Snake tempted Eve with the Fruit of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  And since Eve and Adam were created in God’s Image, they also had Curiosity.  And of course as everybody knows they ate the fruit, and then realized they were naked, and covered themselves, and God found out and cast them out of the Garden into the wilderness where Man must plow the land by the sweat of his brow and Woman experience painful childbirth.

This entire Creation story is an amazing metaphor for what all of God’s Children go through.  We are born/created in our parents’ image.  If we’re lucky, our parents love us and take care of us.  We run around naked without a care in the world.  We don’t worry about where our next meal is coming from or what is going to happen to us from day to day.  Then we eventually grow up (eat the fruit of knowledge), and are cast out of that garden of innocent childhood bliss forever.  We emerge out of that protected cocoon of our childhoods (Eden) and become aware of the Evil in this world.  And we have to work hard (toil by the sweat of our brow) just to meet the basic needs that we never had to worry about when we were children.  Then we in turn become parents (painful childbirth) and try to create an Eden for our children to grow up in, and so Life continues.

There are so many other amazing stories and passages in the Bible that I have grown to love and appreciate because they so accurately reflect Humanity.  I am not a religious person, but I truly believe The Bible is “The Good Book” because it contains Universal and Eternal Truths about Us Human Beings and the World.

Even as a child, I always loved Earth Science and Astronomy, and was amazed by our Planet and the Universe in which we live.  On one hand, everything seemed so chaotic and wild (volcanoes, black holes, hurricanes, comets), but on the other hand, so organized and intricate (the human body, the solar system).  I was mesmerized by all the different elements that make up our universe, but I did not see a big picture, a “Grand Design” or recognized the “Hand of God” in any of it.  But once I began to believe in the Existence of a Higher Power, it all started to make sense.  The world is too complex, intricate, amazing, wonderful and beautiful to have been just an accident.  If there was no God, nothing would be here, and we wouldn’t exist.  Somebody or some force made all this happen.  Call it “Mother Nature” or “The Force” or “The Great Spirit” “Alpha and Omega”, “The Beginning and the End”- whatever it is, I believe it is out there.

Finally, I came to appreciate how the Judeo-Christian values upon which our Great Country is built is rooted in a belief in God.  The Declaration of Independence states, “We are endowed by our CREATOR with certain unalienable Rights, the Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  We are all God’s Children, Created Equal, and born to be Free.  And our entire system of Government has been built on the premise that it only exists By the People and For the People to protect and preserve our Life, our Liberty, and our Pursuit of Happiness (to fulfill our life’s purpose).

I would like to close with one of my favorite scriptures from the Bible.  “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (Corinthians 13:12).  This means God knows us completely, and sees our true potential and our best qualities – he loves us and sees himself in us, even though we don’t always see it ourselves.

Here is a quote from an article that expresses what I believe better than I can in my own words:

“Marriage predates any religious institution. It is tied up with human nature. Man and woman come together, have sex and then have children. Marriage offers the stability and protection for children to grow, in turn becoming mothers and fathers: guardians for the next generation of society. “

Where did you come from? Are you the product of two men? Two women? No, you are here because a sperm from a man and an egg from a woman came together. And formed YOU. And whether or not you are raised by those two people, they will always be your biological mother and father, and it is natural for you to always feel a connection to them, or if you have never met them, a Longing to meet them. It Feels Natural to be raised by your biological parents. That doesn’t mean kids who are adopted or the product of sperm banks can’t grow up in loving families, but those children will never get the chance to be loved and nurtured by their birth parents. A child who is brought up by people they are not related to will almost always search for their birth parent after they grow up. Twins separated at birth and reunited later in life find out they have shared similar if not identical experiences at the same times in their lives. There is something in blood relations that runs deeper than science can explain.

Pointing to unhappy heterosexual marriages is not a good argument for gay marriage. Gay people also experience trials and tribulations in their relationships. At least the children of a dysfunctional heterosexual relationship won’t ever have to go through the confusion of not knowing who their real parents are, or wondering where they came from.

The ideal environment for growing up is to be raised by your biological mother and father, who love each other and had sex to conceive you, that sex being an act of love between them, and a sign that they are emotionally attached, see themselves in you as their child, and create a loving family unit together.

I am not saying gay people can’t be good parents. Grandparents can also be good parents. However, these situations are not ideal. Children would rather have their birth parents as their own parents, and that is the way life is.

Gay people need to accept nature. Two men cannot produce a baby, nor can two women. Gay people are special, and I don’t judge them or condemn them. They are wonderful, unique, gifted and talented just like everybody else. But they can’t get married, because marriage, by definition, and for the reasons I outlined above, is between a man and a woman.

First, I would like to distinguish between cigarettes and alcohol.  Those who smoke tobacco get a short "high" or "buzz" from smoking a cigarette.  It is not significantly mind-altering nor do the effects last much more than a few minutes. 

However, alcohol (like marijuana) is mind-altering, and those who are drunk (or high) behave in ways they would not otherwise behave if they were sober.  This is why there are so many more restrictions on when and where you can purchase alcohol and drink it, and what you can do while drunk.  For instance, you can smoke and drink coffee while driving (or shortly after smoking tobacco and drinking coffee), but you can't drink alcohol and drive.  You can have a smoke during lunch and a cup of coffee in your cubicle at work, but you better not booze up on your lunch break, or you could end up being fired.

I believe the best argument against legalization of Marijuana is Alcohol.  Even with all the laws telling us when and where we can buy it and drink it and what we can and can't do while under the influence of it, it is still a very destructive force in our society.  Alcoholism destroys lives and tears families apart.  Not to mention the individual destruction of the person who is doing the drinking. 

The difference between marijuana and alcohol is that alcohol is good for you in small amounts.  Since alcohol is a beverage, it can be enjoyed in a social setting or with meals more easily and by more people than marijuana.  And since marijuana is most often smoked, it is harmful to your lungs and is not safe in any amount, nor is it a very social substance among adults since most “revelations” experienced while high turn out to be absurdly incoherent in retrospect.

Marijuana is illegal, but it is still used and abused by many people.  It's mind-altering qualities, coupled with the fact that it is addictive, creates a dangerous combination.  I know many who use it are not addicted, just as many who drink are not alcoholics.  But in terms of alcohol, look at how the abuses of the few ripple out and negatively affect the many.  Look at all the people who are injured and die each year from drunk drivers.  Or the families torn apart by addiction.  Alcohol is not inherently evil or destructive (nor is marijuana), but look at how the abuses of the few still manage to create such widespread pain and suffering in our society.  Legalization of marijuana would increase that pain and suffering.  Legalization of marijuana will increase the use and abuse of it.  Which is why I am adamantly against it.  And I'm glad most people in America agree with me.   

I don't want to live in a society where it is acceptable or encouraged to "get high" in order to cope with problems.  Teens will always do things they aren't supposed to like shoplifting, lying to their parents, and "experimenting" with illegal substances such as marijuana.  But most eventually grow out of it, mature, and see how much more richer and enjoyable life can be if they live clean and sober productive lives, dealing with everything that comes their way head-on without running away and trying to "kill the pain".   

*On the issue of Medical Marijuana:  Of course, if there is some property in the marijuana plant that can be extracted and used to create some new wonderful disease curing drug, I'm all for it.  But in terms of using it for "pain relief", you got to be kidding me.  There are so many legal ways to deal with pain.  And the laws in this country are quite flexible in this regard.  Those who truly think they do need it will find a way to get it.  This is still America. 

I have heard some real crazy arguments on Twitter as to why marijuana should be legalized.  Here are some of my favorites:
"Queen Elizabeth smoked pot to cure her menstrual cramps.""Our founding fathers wrote a law ordering farmers to grow hemp.""It would be so great if we legalized it because then the government could tax it.""Advil doesn't work for some people."

MY RESPONSE TO THE COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG 3/21/09
I find the comments made by you people who want to decriminalize marijuana very disturbing.  DRUGS (Legal or Illegal) are only Good when used to CURE A DISEASE.  In terms of Pain Killers, they should only be used temporarily and then you get weaned off it.  DRUGS (Legal or Illegal) are ALWAYS Bad when used to “self-medicate”.  It always hides emotional problems that are hiding underneath that need to be fixed, not “numbed”.  This would include legal drugs such as OxyContin. 

The one legal substance that is recreational is Alcohol.  It has a place in our society.  Wine with dinner.  Champagne on New Years.  A stiff drink with a cigar after dinner.  And I already described all the downsides that come from it (alcoholism, drunk driving), but the MAJORITY of Americans like to drink recreationally, so it is Legal.  You pot smokers are in the minority.  Americans don’t want your drug of choice to be legal because it will negatively affect our society. 

I think it’s sad when people smoke pot to deal with their problems.  But I think it is SICK when they are so in denial about their own Drug Use that they find all these Rationalizations and Excuses for themselves and even turn it into a Cause where they think it is Righteous to want to Legalize Marijuana.  I don’t respect that point of view, I think it is destructive to our country, to our society, to the American Family and the individual.  Do us all a favor, and stop trying to get the Government to make you feel better about your Drug Problem, and go see a psychologist to figure out why you feel the need to smoke marijuana in the first place.