-Caveat Lector-
Liberty Action of the Week for April 1,2003
War on Freedom on its many fronts
by Mary Lou Seymour
War, war, and rumors of war. There's Bush's War of Aggression against
Iraq (and who knows who else in the future), the War on Civil
Liberties at home, and the War on Medical Marijuana patients. The
governmentt line is always "we're doing this for your safety, to
protect you from 'the enemy' (terrorists, third world countries with
WMD, drug dealers), we're doing this for your OWN GOOD and if you
don't agree you're unpatriotic and un American and probably an enemy
sympathizer (or drug user) or a 'useful idiot' being used by the
forces of evil."
But take away the propaganda and patriotic trappings, look behind the
flag waving and you'll see that all of these wars have a common
thread: the state using its power and might to crush individual
rights, and consolidate its own power at the expense of freedom. All
of these wars are different fronts in the War on Freedom.
When the governmentt goes to war abroad, of course, the stakes get
higher (citizens and their sons and daughters are actually going to
be openly killed, not just imprisoned or deprived of medicine); and
to appease those who find it hard to believe that the Mongol hordes
(communist hordes, Islamic hordes) are really much of a threat as
long as we mind our own business, they'll throw in the "we're doing
this to liberate Poland (Iraq, South Vietnam, South Korea) and spread
democracy" meme. Every aggressive imperialist state has used this
exact same justification, throughout history.
Some in the freedom movement just don't get the connection between
our government's actions at home and abroad. Some of us have lost
good friends over differences of opinion on Bush's War of Aggression
("Lost Friend"). Not only is it an individual tragedy to lose a
friend, but to lose a fellow freedom fighter, well, there aren't that
many of us to begin with and we can't afford to lose a single foot
soldier.
I can't offer any words of wisdom on how to not alienate friends and
fellow freedom fighters, except this ... if you find
yourself "talking to a brick wall" when you're doing outreach on ANY
issue, back off that issue and try another. That's simply good
organizing.
But never forget the common thread that runs through all these issues
and other issues that ultimately affect our freedom as individuals,
and realize that anything you can do to educate people of that
commonality will pay off in the long run. Get into the habit of
framing every issue in the context of the non-aggression principle,
the cornerstone of the culture of freedom. Maybe today they are too
blind to see, but maybe tomorrow, or the next day or hell, even a
year from now they'll suddenly remember what YOU said, and "see the
light."
The strength of the NAP is that most people understand it, and AGREE
with it (at least the people we're trying to reach), and once they
grasp the concept of seeing EVERY issue in light of the NAP, well,
you've got a convert for the cause of individual freedom.
I've talked about the War of Aggression abroad for several columns,
and last week we talked about the War on Civil Liberties on the home
front.
This week, let's revisit the War on Medical Marijuana Patients. This
is an excellent issue from several perspectives. Who, after all,
(except the terminally fascist) can be against sick and dying people
obtaining the medicine they need? And the WoMM is also a war on
states' rights: even though 8 states have passed medical marijuana
laws, the feds are still prosecuting folks under federal law, in
direct defiance of the state legislatures, and preventing jurors from
hearing evidence concerning why medical marijuana is used.
Several U.S. Representatives (Representatives Sam Farr, Lynn Woolsey
and Dana Rohrabacher) are seeking to end this unjust use of
government power to crush individual (and states') rights by
introducing FEDERAL legislation to protect states' rights to medical
marijuana and to remove the "gag" that the federal government is
placing on medical marijuana defendants in court.
The Marijuana Policy Project has an easy to use action plan to select
a pre-written letter to fax to your U.S. representative, urging him
or her to cosponsor the Patients' and Providers' Truth in Trials Act,
which would not only ensure that defendants could introduce evidence
about the medical nature of their marijuana-related activity, but
would also keep them from being sent to federal prison if it is
determined that they were acting in compliance with state medical
marijuana laws.
You can choose between several pre written letters:
*Prevent others from suffering Ed Rosenthal's fate
*The federal government's war on medical marijuana is immoral
*No justice in Justice Department's medical marijuana trials
*Protect those who truly need medical marijuana
*Help change a bad federal policy
*I am troubled by the treatment of the sick and dying
Or write your own, and, with a single click of the mouse, FAX your
representative. (These letters are also excellent for use as letters
to the editor which can be send via the Net using the Media Guide.)
On the state level, MPP also has a state by state listing with
prewritten letters to your state legislators, tailored to the status
of medical marijuana legislation in that state. For example, for my
state of SC, which has no pending legislation, the prewritten letter
asks my state representative and senator to introduce medical
marijuana legislation this session; while in Massachusetts, which has
pending legislation and upcoming committee hearings, the letter goes
to the members of the Joint Committee on Health Care urging them to
support H.B. 2965. Again MPP offers several choices of pre written
letters, and, a list of all bills pending, with links to the bill
text, for every state.
If you're interested in more direct action, Americans for Safe Access
has a huge library of resources on organizing, outreach activities,
state contacts and an excellent guide to organizing, as well as links
to resources on direct action.
Common Sense for Drug Policy, a great resource for camera ready "anti-
drug-war" PSAs in the form of glossy ads which you can download and
print, has a wonderful new poster "Will you Act," on how Federal
prosecutors won't permit the jurors to hear testimony concerning why
medical marijuana was used. Post your posters wherever you see a
public bulletin board ... in the supermarket, laundromat, or, even in
the Post Office, or, if you're especially flush with money this
month, run as ads in your local newspaper!
It's overwhelming, at times, thinking about all the "fronts" in the
War on Freedom. We all have lives "outside" the Freedom Movement,
even those who are fortunate enough to have landed a paying gig as a
staffer for one of the Pro Freedom organizations. And for the rest of
us, who work an 8 to 12 hour "shift" at a day job, and have families
to care for, time is limited. That's the purpose of this weekly
column, to keep you all informed of the different "war fronts" and
provide a "quick and easy" action for you to do your part, every
week, to build a network of thousands of activists sharing their
vision with others changing "their world" to embrace a culture of
freedom.
Til next week
For Freedom!
Mary Lou
PS: Once again, a big "thank you" for those who have sent in
donations to keep this column on the Net, I appreciate every penny.
And I also appreciate the emails of support and especially ideas for
actions (can't ever get enough of those!). When I come home and find
an email in my in box saying I've received a donation, or an email
with a new action idea, it's like getting a hug from a friend. Thanks
again to all of you wonderful friends and compadres!
PPS: This week's alternate actions, listed on the web site for this
column, include "Boycott Delta" (for being the pilot test of a new
Orwellian airline `security' program,CAPPS II), a Petition for
Independent Review of federal Judicial Misconduct, "Homeland
Insecurity: the board game", and "Boycott Bennetton" (for embedding
RFID tracking chips in their clothing line). And we now offer even
more alternate actions, and, a chance to discuss this column online
in partnership with Liberty Forum! See the web page for details!
====
'Lost friend' (Lee Wrights)
http://www.rationalreview.com/archive/rleewrights/rleewrights032803.ht
ml
NAP/ZAP
http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/whoislib.html
Federal Representatives to Introduce New Legislation
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=372
Marijuana Policy Project
http://www.mpp.org/USA/action.html
LTEs Media Guide
http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/
Americans for Safe Access
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/
Will you Act
http://www.csdp.org/ads/doyouknow.htm
This week's Liberty Action of the Week on the Web
http://www.rationalreview.com/archive/mls/mls040103.html
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