America is not free.

[BlueBlazer]

" freedom's just another word, for nothing left to lose " - Kris Kristofferson, West Point grad., helicopter gunship pilot, Vietnam ...

don't know about some of you, but I feel pretty free ... I do pretty much as I please, take care of myself, best I can ... ever wonder what's the most important thing you realize, as you get old ?, that all your bitching and whining, over the years, only contributed to your high blood pressure, and not much else ...

relax, take life for what it is, there is really very little you can do to change it ... you live for awhile, then the really serious shit hits the fan, worry about that, instead ... :smokin:

Completely agree. :thumbsup:

The outlook I have now in my middle age is much more mellow than when I was young. I was an idealist then and have become a skeptic now.

Our government is not necessarily concerned with our rights and best interests, but it could be much, much worse. Visit a truly repressed country and you'll soon recognize how much freedom you have here.

For me life is pretty comfortable now. I expect less, desire less, and have more of a feeling of fulfillment.

[the image reaper]

Completely agree. :thumbsup:

The outlook I have now in my middle age is much more mellow than when I was young. I was an idealist then and have become a skeptic now.

Our government is not necessarily concerned with our rights and best interests, but it could be much, much worse. Visit a truly repressed country and you'll soon recognize how much freedom you have here.

For me life is pretty comfortable now. I expect less, desire less, and have more of a feeling of fulfillment.

Completely agree :thumbsup: ... yup, me too

[psychocat]

^ I agree with you about "intent" laws, they are total bullshit. it would be like charging with someone with "intent to commit armed robbery" just because they own a gun. only with cannabis laws do they get away with that kind of logic. :wtf:

It isn't just cannabis, they started 2 wars based on that premise too.
Pre-emptive strike is bullshit , if I hit someone in the street who I thought may hit me I would be charged with assault.
I can just see the courtroom and judge buying my defence of "I was sure he was gonna hit me governor"

[boaz]

It isn't just cannabis, they started 2 wars based on that premise too.
Pre-emptive strike is bullshit , if I hit someone in the street who I thought may hit me I would be charged with assault.
I can just see the courtroom and judge buying my defence of "I was sure he was gonna hit me governor"

okay, I stand corrected only cannabis laws and the bush doctrine. :jointsmile: your preachin to choir on that, my friend, I have never been a big fan of war.

[boaz]

As an Australian. I cant really comment on America. I dont really want to comment at all.

All i really want to say is:

If someone is prepared to stand up, take control, be prepared for a bloody hard fight and most of all, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. They would have my vote.

Complaining on a forum of how we arent free is B/S...remember you are free to run for Presidency / Prime Minister if you do really want to make a change.

Maybe run for Member of Parliament for your area. That vote is down to the Local People and they will decide upon what you tell them if your who they want.

Ill put my hand up now. I have a perfect solution. Instead of working for money to get what you need. How about cutting a step out and working for what you need? If you have a farm of corn,i will help you sow the seeds. We all eat corn. If i have cattle,help me milk them,we will all have milk.

Its the simple,help yourself to help others. If you can only help yourself than it must not be worth doing.

If 10 people help you,it takes a 10th of the time. Sooner or later we all have so much time,well be looking to help each other. As it is now. People have no time on their hands so pretty much everyone cops an F YOU! That continues in a big loop til everyones rooting each other...pretty much where we are now.

My bottom line is. Unless you are pro actively doing something to change this,you cant exactly complain. And complaining only makes things worse...

Start looking for change and actually looking. Scratch the surface and start to dig...it goes so deep.
I hope to see you on the other side

:smokin: Welcome to Can Com! :rasta: I like your idea of getting back to basics, concentrating on what is really important, what can we yield from the gound up. :greenthumb: cause, really what more does one need?

[Trip06]

Use the times of peace to prepare yourselves for the times of war, while enjoying yourselves with family and friends.

[CannaChrist]

Freedom is a choice. You can do anything you want. You just have to be willing to accept the consequences of your actions. Actually you don't even have to be willing. We have to have penalties for people that would trample on your rights etc. But when those laws trample my rights to injest anything I desire (cannabis), and in doing so I am not harming anyone. Then no.
The United States is certainly not a free country. Far far from it. It is sickening to me how bad it really is. I am all for the constitution and what it is supposed to protect. Like my religious right to commune with nature and pursue happiness.
I choose to be free daily. I just hide it from authority because even though here in Wa. I have MMJ recommendation, it is still technically illegal.
:rastasmoke:

[SirSmellyEwic]

yeah, i gotta agree, I'm feeling pretty free right now.

Peble, Yes, we do have a sh*tload of laws to reform but we inherited all the tools we need to do it, The Constitution of The United States of America. what more do you want? get to work. :rasta:

the constitution without the bill of rights... is merely a tool to control you. We are not free... not because of the laws and such... we are not free, because the corporations are. They are the reasons for such laws. Pot will never be legal as long as the alcohol industry owns enough senators and congressmen etc etc for many other rules and whatnot. corporations should've never been given individual rights... bc they aren't individuals.

Lets look at what the toilet paper you believe in so much sets up.

Several writers stated it was designed to keep the majority of the population from passing the laws they wanted.... umm... that's what democracy is. Yes there definately should be minority protection... but we should look at the definition of minority... the constitution looks at it as a numbers game rather than a power and money game... hence the corporate/upper class can be considered a "minority." when they in fact have all the power. they didn't care about protecting minority groups of actual people. the founders only wanted to protect their money and property from the masses, and they wanted to take all the money from the masses. by making "big" government the bad guy.

While we gained property rights we'd never be able to fully utilize... we may own some land or a house but not means of production. we lost sustenance rights... the right to food, shelter etc. things that keep you alive... health care for example. here's how we got there:

Constitution sets up Two houses of congress... one is set up to actually represent the population... based on population a state gets so many house members. Yet the more powerful more convoluted Senate was based on an equal number 2... for each state. This would allow states with a small population to enforce their will upon the rest of the nation... if you don't believe that's how it worked... look at Joe LIEberman. and he's not even representing his constituents. The Senate is designed to protect one minority group... those with insane amounts of money. And this is just the legislative branch. the senate also gets to confirm the judicial high kings with life terms of the supreme court ( the very group that gave corporations individual rights) Now whether the founders schemed for it to end up like this is a silly question. I do not believe the forsaw this. They were acting merely in self-interest while they created a monster.

Further weakening the house... is that it's a winner take all system. Rather than European Proportional Representation, we have single-district plurality system. This system is designed to only allow two major parties. whereas the european system allows more. Ours stifles third parties. So the ruling class can control two parties that don't have a need to represent the people... and the individuals in those parties who want to represent the people are either not re-elected, or they end up in the house with little power... or if they make it to the senate, they are filibustered against and all their lil ppl ideas will be watered down by the Senate's process.

So two out of three branches... controlled. Of course the president can cause some problems, but not really, thanks to corporations having individual rights now, which is thanks to the Senate approved Judicial branch. corporations are allowed to by advertising for a candidate without it counting as a donation. soft money it's called.

The only tool we have is our vote. and that tool has been rendered USELESS by the constitution you so proudly say gives us freedom. If this is freedom, i'd hate to see what slavery was.

Government is supposed to be there to protect people... but it is there today to protect corporations and help them exploit us... our tax money is spent on R&D for corporations new products... they don't even have to risk their own capital... that economic system friends, is not capitalism even... it's fascism. Corporatism and Fascism are the same thing... just look at Mussolini's economy... as well as Hitlers... yes Hitler's party was called "socialist" in name, but it merely functiond as a reverse socialist party aka fascism in the economy.

Thankfully we do have the Bill Of Rights... which most founders didn't even want to give us. It was thrown in as a compromise. That does give us what little freedom we have. And that i support. As for the rest of the constitution... i do not.

Our only way to freedom is to take back the government however, not to eliminate it.

[SirSmellyEwic]

Freedom is a choice. You can do anything you want. You just have to be willing to accept the consequences of your actions. Actually you don't even have to be willing. We have to have penalties for people that would trample on your rights etc. But when those laws trample my rights to injest anything I desire (cannabis), and in doing so I am not harming anyone. Then no.
The United States is certainly not a free country. Far far from it. It is sickening to me how bad it really is. I am all for the constitution and what it is supposed to protect. Like my religious right to commune with nature and pursue happiness.
I choose to be free daily. I just hide it from authority because even though here in Wa. I have MMJ recommendation, it is still technically illegal.
:rastasmoke:

well really ur first point here makes sense. we are in the Foucauldian sense free. because we can do what we want... you are free because you do still injest what you want. but in any government you can do what you want.

Rights are not something that come down from the sky... you grant them to yourself. I may grant myself the right to trample over others. someone may grant the right to trample over mine. but like you said... you "choose" to be free daily... i would prefer it phrased "you will to be free daily" because choice... eh, if you rewind time, then play again, youd do the same thing, because you won't have the hindsight you have when you look at the past, because your mind would rewind as well.

but yes... good points... very ubermensch.

[SirSmellyEwic]

As an Australian. I cant really comment on America. I dont really want to comment at all.


Complaining on a forum of how we arent free is B/S...remember you are free to run for Presidency / Prime Minister if you do really want to make a change.

And complaining about people complaining on a forum of how they aren't free is what?

and why can't you comment on america... that sounds like slave morality. i will comment on your country. i think we should adopt your monetary-fine for not voting. if 100% of the people voted here, we would be "free" in the sense that we'd control the government not the corporations.

you are to free to run, only once you are too old not to care here tho. once the system has made u part of it, or destroyed your will.

i like our freedom to complain. i believe in ripple effect. I'm a sociologist. and simply typing something on a forum will effect someone somewhere else... n then they may have conversation with someone who disagrees, but someone else overhears, and understands, and it opens their eyes.

we are all just molecules bouncing off each other.

However one is always "free" if they will to be.