I'm Tired. How's about you ??

I'm Tired
By Moe Bukkake

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired. I'm tired of being
threatened and blown up. I'm tired of "our" deficit and the ridiculous
appropriation of our tax monies used for personal interest projects that
are obscenely beyond any realm of basic common sense. I'm tired of
farmers living in blight when hemp cultivation would feed their families
and relieve our textile industry of billions in unnecessarily imported
fiber costs. I'm tired of not having a way to feed and shelter the
impoverished and homeless. I'm tired of the violence in our communities
and deviates preying on our children. I'm tired of incompetent
politicians. I'm ashamed that we don't have quality government
healthcare available to every citizen at no or little cost like many
smaller countries do. The list is endless.
How long are we going to passively stand by and watch our tax dollars
flow further away from us while our quality of life continues to spiral
downward? I am not a militant or anyone who desires to overthrow our
government or anything like that. I'm just tired of all the negativity
and fear in our everyday lives. There have got to be others of you out
there who feel that there has got to be a way to improve our Quality Of
Life. I know I am certainly one of those people and I want positive
change yesterday. But how, you ask? I ask myself that all the time.
After a lot of research and hours of conversations I believe that I have
come up with a direction that is both simple and attainable that will
free up billions of our wasted dollars, generate more income and improve
our country's way of life. First and foremost we need to work on
staying out of other people's personal business, at home as well as
abroad. I am not talking about our law enforcement's needs and/or so
called "big brother" restrictions. I am talking about just basic minding
our own business and, as simple as it sounds, the golden rule.
First we need to start at home. It is my opinion that we can
drastically improve our Quality Of Life by once and for all removing the
prohibition of, so called, "Quality Of Life Crimes". Prostitution,
Gambling, & Drugs. Prohibition didn't work in the 1920's and it is
definitely not working now. The same pattern of violence and degradation
exist now, only far worse. The tables have turned. Now the prohibition
itself is the cause of the scourge. The attempt to control "vice" crimes
only drives the people involved further underground, raises the value of
their product/service, and thus makes the extremes one will go to
protect their investment all the more drastic. It's time to face the
fact that, for whatever reason, humans are not going to stop gambling,
patronizing prostitutes, and consuming some substance to lift the
spirits. If you don't indulge yourself, you certainly know someone close
who does. No matter who you are, if you are involved in anyway and for
any reason, you have to hide to one extent or another. And what if you
get caught? If the personal embarrassment is not painful enough, the
social and legal ramifications, as well as financial burden, are often
devastating for most people. Whether these acts are illegal or not,
people are just not going to stop. Many feel that if these "crimes" are
no longer prohibited that people will go rampant and more people will
succumb to these newly legal temptations. This is not the fact. Ask
yourself, if gambling, prostitution, and drugs were suddenly legal, do
you picture yourself smoking crack cocaine in a brothel, playing high
stakes poker? No, neither do I. Of course there's those curious souls
that may venture out to take a look, but for the most part, if the
average person is not now already involved in something, they are not
going out of their way to start.
I do believe that we still need some sort of control as with any
commodity. In short, a way to start would be to treat hemp/marijuana
like any other produce. Retailers would sell it in smoke shops, same age
restrictions as alcohol, import regulations and tariffs would apply for
out of country brands, etc. Farmers who grow and sell for recreational
(not hemp) purposes would abide by tobacco type regulations. For
personal growers it would be just like any other plant. If you like to
grow it for personal use or hobby no restrictions would apply as with
vegetables and flowers. One would also be free to give their harvest to
friends of legal age without restriction. Hemp grown for fiber and other
commercial use will be treated like any other commercially grown
commodity plant such as wheat or hay. Other prohibited drugs and
substances would follow standard FDA guidelines for quality, purity,
labeling, etc. These products will be sold under alcohol regulations.
Prescription medications will still be in the hands of the doctors with
the exception of opiate based medicine, stimulant, pain, anxiety, and
others that are now classified as "commonly abused" substances". These
products will be sold in pharmacies in their own section.
Gambling and prostitution will be allowed as private businesses using
Nevada as a model.
All of these businesses will be highly taxed. Isn't one of the main
focuses of the "War on Drugs" stopping the powerful drug barons in third
world countries from causing more hardship on their countrymen? As the
world's #1 consumer of the product they produce, wouldn't we removing
our prohibition on their product and making it commercially available at
low cost put an immediate stop to the businesses that they are running
as they know them? Game over! We win! Enterprising drug manufacturers
would now have the opportunity to clean up their act and comply to US
import/export regulations as with imported alcohol products. FDA
quality, purity, labeling, etc. guidelines must be met. As an added
bonus, this would open up many legal employment opportunities for the
countries people. Businesses licensed for export to USA must comply to
Labor Rights guidelines with continuous onsite monitoring. Now what do
we do with all of the revenue generated by the new tax money and the
tens of billions of dollars that are now freed up because we no longer
have to fund the war on "quality of life crimes". We watch it very
closely, make sure the majority of it stays right here in the USA, make
a plan, and put the money towards improving our actual Quality Of Life.
We would now be able to afford research to find out what causes certain
people to catch the disease of addiction and work towards a cure. There
are so many positive ways the money can be used that I am not even going
to start to name them. A lot of " in a perfect world" scenarios can now
become reality. But what do we do with all of the law enforcement
personal that no longer have a mission?? It's no secret that our best
trained and equipped law enforcement people are those fighting "vice"
crimes, especially those skilled professionals fighting the "war on
drugs". Now with these highly qualified men and women free from fighting
the war to protect us from ourselves, we can put those brave best of the
best to work using their skills making our country safe from terrorism
and predators within our own society and halls of government. Those
fighting the "war on drugs" abroad can continue to keep our borders safe
in other ways. No longer will those brave souls guarding our borders now
be short staffed and under funded. The same positive scenario applies to
the support people that keep the machine running for our troops now.
Bottom line, I personally don't care if my neighbor gambles, enjoy
prostitutes, or likes to get high as long as it doesn't adversely affect
my life. This is only an overview of a plan that has the potential of
making our place a better world and leaves open many possibilities for
discussion both pro and con. That is part of the direction of this plan,
to get us Americans thinking for ourselves and working for a stronger
(not militarily), prouder, and respected country like we all disearve. I
most likely have a positive solution to any concerns that you may have.
One thing we need to, and fast, is drop our Puritan outlook, open our
eyes and realize that this is not 1936. We all need to do what we can do
to bring safety, common sense, and honesty back into our day to day
lives as well as we those we choose to govern us. Politicians need to be
held accountable for the promises they make us, and the lies that they
tell. Not one day longer should we accept the excuse "politicians will
be politicians" anymore than we would accept the excuse "boys will be
boys" from a group of teenagers who gang rape a young girl. One thing
for sure is that in both examples someone gets violated against their
own will. Minding our own business abroad. As long as we continue to go
into other countries and attempt to change their ways there will always
be someone who will retaliate. I understand there are countless human
rights violations and territorial disputes throughout the world. I too
would love to save everyone, but that task is impossible for anyone,
much less one country, especially a country in the condition ours is in.
We are tapped out in so many ways. We need a rest to get ourselves
healthy once again.
Decades ago the world was a much smaller place. The great United States
of America could afford to save the "little guy" Now the task of
policing the world is completely beyond our means. With Iraq for
instance, we have no choice. We blew it up, now we have to fix it. One
of the many problems with that scenario is that the whole Middle East
Region doesn't want us there and will attack us just to prove it. It's
as simple as the statement that we need to fix ourselves before we can
even consider lending a hand elsewhere. Yes we do help in many blighted
nations with food, medical help, and knowledge. These programs need to
continue. We can now open that ol' war chest and give these programs
serious funding. We could put our forces to work building things &
teaching people modern ways to better their lives instead of risking
their lives fighting for people who don't want us to fight for them. Why
do these people hate us, what did we do to make them so mad at us? Ask
yourself this. If someone came into your living room and at gunpoint
told you that you could no longer watch a TV show because it didn't fit
into their idea of the way things should be, wouldn't you want to go
after them and their kind? Though, granted the world climate is far more
serious than that, essentially that is precisely what we are doing to
these countries. We are, at times, trying to change hundreds, and
sometimes, thousands of years of tradition. All the bullets in the world
won't change time. It is obvious that our attempt to be the world's
police force is not working. Does someone have to blow a whistle in our
face to wake us to the fact that the game is over?
The majority of the world does not even like us anymore, much less
respect us. How many of you have traveled abroad? I don't mean within
the constraints of your resort. I mean going outside of your American
owned hotel and seeing the country and meeting it's people? I don't know
about the rest of you but I'm not feeling a lot of love out there. Most
people from abroad that I've encountered feel that we should mind our
own business and stop stirring up trouble in the world. I, personally,
am all for that concept. The fact that it's becoming at times
embarrassing to be an American makes me really uncomfortable. In our
world of democracy it would seem to me that the phrase "majority of the
world" by itself would open up the "majority" of our leaders eyes. These
countries are people who once believed in us. Now just having American
citizens in their country is a risk to their own people. That is not
fair to put our allies in that position. It's time for a positive
change. Things are not looking up for the immediate future and nor for
the long term either. Plan A is not working. It's time to go to Plan B.
This is one citizen's shortened version of Plan B.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this on to anyone that'll take the time to read it.

Moe Bukkake

EMAIL: moebukkake@hotmail.com