420 protests and the medical marijuana override

[lildog]

good point JJ.  Once a day, for a short while, and for who knows how long, there is freedom in Central Square and Veterans Memorial Park.

What good is temporary freedom if it results in a greater loss?  If your short while of freedom results in jail for many protesters and criminal records that destroy their futures and prevent them from getting jobs they may want somewhere down the line, what then?

It almost seems as if most of you here are looking only at a single battle and not the over all war.

I have a great idea.  How about you let me worry about my life, my future, my freedom.  You can spend all that extra time worrying about your own life.  If you choose to stay at home and write congressmen, have at it.  I promise I won't get as upset and offended as some politicos do.  That way you can get more accomplished in your war on the war on drugs as I choose to use whatever drug I feel necessary for whatever reason I feel like using it.

I do appreciate your concern.  It makes my heart all warm and tingly.  I'll save a hit in the pipe for you if you decide to change your mind   

just think. . . when everyone has a record (for pot or whatever you choose to do that will eventually be illegal) then no one will have jobs!   (Or maybe people will just say fuck it and hire hardworking marijuana smokers such as myself)

You guys don't get it do you?  Mock me all you want but ask yourselves how free are you really?

Can you hold a real job without paying taxes? 

Can you run a successful company without paying into the government's system?

Can you openly smoke without having to swallow it when the cops walk by (as was mentioned in several discussions about the 420 events)?

Sure you may be able to get away with things for a while and perhaps you personally may get away with them forever if you keep under the radar but to do so you give up living a "normal" life.

Anyone attempting to have a regular job or run a successful business ends up like Ed Brown, toss away without any freedom.  He can't even kiss his wife goodnight anymore.

How many days of freedom has Russ and others here lost by living free?  Small amounts of your lives were taken from you, that's not free.  That's a price you were forced to pay for the illusion you have of being free.

Others work odd jobs, under the table to help hide themselves from the government.  That isn't free.  That's going into hiding.  Being forced to alter your lifestyle to prevent the government from prying into your life is not freedom.

If you cannot even buy your own home because you're trying to stay outside the system is that really freedom?

[lildog]

What good is temporary freedom if it results in a greater loss?

It isn't any good. Which is why I'm so aggrivated by this. Real, long-term freedom can't be achieved through the political system.

I don't have the freedom to drive today. I have permission to drive. When the medical cannabis bill passes, sick people won't have the freedom to smoke weed; they'll have permission.

Nobody will be FREE until what the politicians and bureaucrats say and thing DOESN'T AFFECT HOW YOU LIVE.

What good is permission to do a thing or two, when the basis of those things is someone else's permission?

Kevin, I agree with nearly everything you say here but I have to ask back, are you free if someone is able to take it away from you?  Without the ability to protect your freedom, do you really have it simply because it hasn't yet been taken away?

By your above logic, it can be said we are free to drink alcohol if we so choose because we don't need permission and we can walk into a store and buy it for ourselves or even home brew it if we so choose.  But as we saw in the early part of the 1900s that freedom can be taken away by force.  Some went into hiding but having to hide in order to do something is not what I call being free.  Unless your freedom is protected it can be taken from you.

[lildog]

History shows me that one man in government can and will try to deny the right to life and liberty of everyone else with a stroke of the pen.

Key word there is can.  History has shown us that people in government seats of power can strip the rest of us of basic rights, that is why we need to continually fight to make sure those who want to strip us of our rights are never put into power or tossed out as quickly as possible.

Sitting on the side lines and attempting to claim your freedom only allows those who want to strip even more power from you to vote in the politicians that will do it while you sit back doing nothing.

[AntonLee]

good point JJ.  Once a day, for a short while, and for who knows how long, there is freedom in Central Square and Veterans Memorial Park.

What good is temporary freedom if it results in a greater loss?  If your short while of freedom results in jail for many protesters and criminal records that destroy their futures and prevent them from getting jobs they may want somewhere down the line, what then?

It almost seems as if most of you here are looking only at a single battle and not the over all war.

I have a great idea.  How about you let me worry about my life, my future, my freedom.  You can spend all that extra time worrying about your own life.  If you choose to stay at home and write congressmen, have at it.  I promise I won't get as upset and offended as some politicos do.  That way you can get more accomplished in your war on the war on drugs as I choose to use whatever drug I feel necessary for whatever reason I feel like using it.

I do appreciate your concern.  It makes my heart all warm and tingly.  I'll save a hit in the pipe for you if you decide to change your mind   

just think. . . when everyone has a record (for pot or whatever you choose to do that will eventually be illegal) then no one will have jobs!   (Or maybe people will just say fuck it and hire hardworking marijuana smokers such as myself)

You guys don't get it do you?  Mock me all you want but ask yourselves how free are you really?

Can you hold a real job without paying taxes? 

Can you run a successful company without paying into the government's system?

Can you openly smoke without having to swallow it when the cops walk by (as was mentioned in several discussions about the 420 events)?

Sure you may be able to get away with things for a while and perhaps you personally may get away with them forever if you keep under the radar but to do so you give up living a "normal" life.

Anyone attempting to have a regular job or run a successful business ends up like Ed Brown, toss away without any freedom.  He can't even kiss his wife goodnight anymore.

How many days of freedom has Russ and others here lost by living free?  Small amounts of your lives were taken from you, that's not free.  That's a price you were forced to pay for the illusion you have of being free.

Others work odd jobs, under the table to help hide themselves from the government.  That isn't free.  That's going into hiding.  Being forced to alter your lifestyle to prevent the government from prying into your life is not freedom.

If you cannot even buy your own home because you're trying to stay outside the system is that really freedom?

Not mocking you.  I appreciate your concern.  Thanks for looking out for what you believe to be my best interests.

[Raineyrocks]

good point JJ.  Once a day, for a short while, and for who knows how long, there is freedom in Central Square and Veterans Memorial Park.

What good is temporary freedom if it results in a greater loss?  If your short while of freedom results in jail for many protesters and criminal records that destroy their futures and prevent them from getting jobs they may want somewhere down the line, what then?

It almost seems as if most of you here are looking only at a single battle and not the over all war.

I have a great idea.  How about you let me worry about my life, my future, my freedom.  You can spend all that extra time worrying about your own life.  If you choose to stay at home and write congressmen, have at it.  I promise I won't get as upset and offended as some politicos do.  That way you can get more accomplished in your war on the war on drugs as I choose to use whatever drug I feel necessary for whatever reason I feel like using it.

I do appreciate your concern.  It makes my heart all warm and tingly.  I'll save a hit in the pipe for you if you decide to change your mind   

just think. . . when everyone has a record (for pot or whatever you choose to do that will eventually be illegal) then no one will have jobs!   (Or maybe people will just say fuck it and hire hardworking marijuana smokers such as myself)

You guys don't get it do you?  Mock me all you want but ask yourselves how free are you really?

Can you hold a real job without paying taxes? 

Can you run a successful company without paying into the government's system?

Can you openly smoke without having to swallow it when the cops walk by (as was mentioned in several discussions about the 420 events)?

Sure you may be able to get away with things for a while and perhaps you personally may get away with them forever if you keep under the radar but to do so you give up living a "normal" life.

Anyone attempting to have a regular job or run a successful business ends up like Ed Brown, toss away without any freedom.  He can't even kiss his wife goodnight anymore.

How many days of freedom has Russ and others here lost by living free?  Small amounts of your lives were taken from you, that's not free.  That's a price you were forced to pay for the illusion you have of being free.

Others work odd jobs, under the table to help hide themselves from the government.  That isn't free.  That's going into hiding.  Being forced to alter your lifestyle to prevent the government from prying into your life is not freedom.

If you cannot even buy your own home because you're trying to stay outside the system is that really freedom?

I think you bring up great questions, lots of them I've asked myself and can't come up with an answer.  Rick and I talked about getting a piece of land and trying to live off the grid.  We discussed trying to stay "out of the system" but if we didn't pay taxes on the land, it would be taken because even if someone's house/land is paid off, if you don't pay taxes you lose it.  So does anyone really own their homes/land?

Rick's job for instance, they take taxes out every week, so how much control does he have even though he doesn't want to pay taxes to this corrupt system?

"Under the table" jobs are harder and harder to find and if you have a large family, they usually don't pay enough to support your family.

It seems like people are cornered in every area of their lives; except for some kind of internal freedom and expression of individuality.  I'd love to hear viable solutions to a lot of your questions too.  Perhaps, it might be easier if your on your own but it seems to be impossible when you have to provide for a family. 

I lived in my car for awhile when I got kicked out of my moms when I was 19, it was scary but I had places to shower and stuff, then finished my technical school and got a job.  It was probably the most freedom I ever experienced because I got jobs under the table back then to put gas in my car and do my laundry.  That kind of living could've only go on so long though.

Sorry AntonLee, I didn't mean to butt in, this post was responding to Lildog's post.  I still don't know how to separate quotes yet.