Pubdate: Sun, 02 Jul 2000
Source: Santa Barbara News-Press (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Santa Barbara News-Press
Contact:  P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
Website: http://www.newspress.com/
Author: Robert Bakhaus

DECRIMINALIZATION DAY

Thousands of people this year will be warming up for their traditional 
Fourth of July Independence Day holiday by first celebrating 
Decriminalization Day on July 3. Decriminalization Day is the official 
holiday for victimless "criminals" celebrated annually since America's 1976 
Bicentennial.

In Santa Barbara, we will be picnicking in De la Guerra Plaza in front of 
City Hall from noon until dusk. In Anaheim, hundreds will march in memory 
of medical marijuana martyr Peter McWilliams. In Tennessee, various 
demonstrations will be held against their governor's attempts to impose an 
income tax.

Decriminalization Day reminds us that the essence of Americanism is 
contained in the very first sentence of the very First Amendment, which 
says: "Congress shall make no laws regarding ..."

Nowhere else in the history of civilization has a government unilaterally 
denied itself as much power over its citizens as did the original Founders.

The Founder's respect for natural, human, individual rights to life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness was so great, they fought a war for 
freedom from taxation without representation, for the right to be left 
alone from unreasonable searches and seizures, to retain unto the states 
and the people all power not explicitly delegated to the federal 
government. And they practiced much of what they preached in their daily lives.

Unlike today's immigrant bashers, John Hancock -- the signer of the 
Declaration of Independence whose signature was so large that King George 
would not need his spectacles to read it -- was a professional smuggler who 
grew rich running the British blockade. What do you think he would do about 
the recent case of Elian Gonzalez, or about the blockade against Cuba for 
that matter?

Unlike today's pious drug warriors swilling alcohol and caffeine while 
waging war on marijuana and other bio-chemistry for which they are 
zero-tolerant, George Washington distilled liquors on his plantation and 
grew marijuana by the acres. Thomas Jefferson likewise grew the wonderful 
hemp plant, and wrote his drafts of the Declaration of Independence on hemp 
paper. Most of the Bibles of the era were printed on hemp.

Unlike today's prudish Puritans, who pound on pornography with every 
legislative instrument imaginable, Benjamin Franklin not only maintained 
the largest collection of "gentlemen's literature," but held regular 
meetings for gentlemen to read and share it. His governorship of 
Pennsylvania, with his bastard son as personal secretary, was a model of 
tolerance that even the Quakers found popular.

All of the Founders were victimless criminals, condemned by their 
"divine-right" British king to hang. Most of them suffered terrible 
tragedies in the loss of fortune, family and their own lives in order to 
make the world a safer place for those of us who choose to exercise our 
individuality without violating universal human rights. Imagine how these 
scofflaws of "divine rights" would laugh at today's insane proponents of 
"animal rights."

Imagine how these enlightenment-inspired souls would loathe the post-modern 
inhumanity of the Endangered Species Act.

For those who have not lost their humanity, their love of human rights, 
their desire for a humane society of tolerance and freedom, 
Decriminalization Day sets a tone for reducing the violence now rampant in 
American society. From the war on drugs, the war on pornography, the war on 
illiteracy, the war on poverty, the ruling of czars and commissars

For every bureaucratic agenda, America needs to declare peace and stand 
down the troops. From endless no-win wars abroad, America needs to 
demilitarize. We need to stop building prisons faster than any other 
construction, and stop being proud of imprisoning more citizens than any 
other country since South Africa stopped apartheid and the Soviet Union 
abandoned its imperialistic ambitions.

We need to give peace a chance instead of being seduced by the dark side of 
the force as the only superpower on the planet.

Decriminalization Day is a day for midwives, chiropractors, medical 
marijuana users, polygamists, same-sex marital partners, private gamblers, 
lawyers who advertise, nudists who sun in the buff in the privacy of their 
own property and/or on marked clothes-optional beaches.

Decriminalization Day is for those who drive over 55 miles per hour, cut 
"Do Not Remove" labels from their mattresses, draft resisters, tax 
resisters and unlicensed gun owners.

Decriminalization Day is for those who avoid sales tax by buying out of 
state or over the internet.

Decriminalization Day is for advocates of needle-exchange programs without 
needing a declaration of Health Emergency by the county Board of Supervisors.

Decriminalization Day is for atheists to join hands with faith healers in 
celebration of the First Amendment's freedom of and from religion.

In short, Decriminalization Day is for you, if you value universal human 
rights.

To research our free database of thousands of bad laws -- many in 
California -- visit our Libertarian Society website at: www.silcom.com/~taxabo
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager