America's resources are strained. As the Iraq fiasco escalates, the dollar devalues, and fuel costs soar, America's new tomorrow is begging for a contemporary point-of-view.
For too long Bush has made us a nation afraid of its own shadow. Fear mongering, failed policies, and a sense of foreboding have usurped common sense. The American dream and any sense of optimism have been driven down into a deep, dark pit.
America yearns for tomorrow while neo-conservatives, frightened evangelicals, and the old-guard cling to yesterday's well-formed lies. Iraq is a lie, fossil fuel is a lie, political boundaries are a lie, right-wing religion is a lie, and so are America's money wasting, prison-crowding, twentieth-century marijuana laws.
In response to public pressure, scientific evidence, and a lack of fear, twelve states have passed marijuana legislation in conflict with federal law. In California, medical marijuana has been dispensed since 1996. Despite federal views to the contrary, the sky has not fallen down over the golden state's liberal herbal policy.
In 1992, Bill Clinton admitted to having "experimented with marijuana a time or two." But, he famously claimed, "I didn't like it, and didn't inhale and I never tried it again." Challenges to twenty-first century America have warranted a new look at unwarranted fears: Barack Obama supports marijuana for glaucoma, cancer patients, and medical use. He has said, "the war on drugs has been an utter failure, we need to rethink it - decriminalize our marijuana laws."
John McCain's moth-eaten, opposition to marijuana for medical use, is another signal his presidency would be a roadblock to a new America. McCain states: "I still would not support medical marijuana because I don't think the preponderance of medical opinion in America agrees with the assertion that [marijuana] is the most effective way of treating pain."
In part 2 of my interview with Congressman Barney Frank, he talks bluntly and plainly about an issue that clouds the path towards a new America. His reasonable, live and let live position makes sense, moving us into the twenty-first century, at last.