Sex, Drugs, And....Plastic Toys

Yesterday we talked about sex, drugs, and lemonade so let's continue with the theme and talk today about sex, drugs, and plastic toys today:

Sex - two particles regarding gay rights have come to my attention. In the December issue of Reason magazine (http://www.reason.com/), writer Ryan Sager discusses a study that was done by Columbia University political scientists, Justin Phillips and Jeffrey Lax. They conducted a study of how big the gap is between different age groups regarding gay rights. According to their study, if only people over 65 made the laws, no states would allow gay marriage. If only people under 30 made the laws, 38 states would allow gay marriage. They also concluded that those under 30 today are likely to maintain their current views as they get older since they are more likely to have positively interacted with gay men and women than the over 65 crowd. Thus, one could conclude that full gay marriage rights (and other civil rights) will eventually occur if only because the march of time.

On a less encouraging note, a recent article ("Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Is The End Near?") in The Week Magazine, reviewed a gay rights march that occurred in Washington in mid-October. The disappointment was that despite campaign promises, Omama has made no progress (or possibly no effort) in getting the prohibition against gays serving in the military terminated. This inaction comes despite the fact that gays serving in other nations' armed forces had not seen any detrimental effects of allowing gays to openly serve in their military forces.

The bottom line from a freedom perspective: gays and lesbians will eventually have their civil rights fully recognized, if only because of the passage of time, and there is no reason not to start that recognition with the lifting of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. As outlined in the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government", it will remove one way for the political class to divide and conquer Americans by turning them into adversary tribes. In this case, gay vs. straight.

Drugs - In a previous post or two we have referred to the anti-drug action that Portugal took in order to address its large drug addiction problem. Basically, they decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs that were likely to be used for personal use. The result of this strategy was actually a drop in drug usage.

In the latest issue of Reason Magazine. Jacob Sullum reviews similar actions in different countries. The Argentinian Constitution basically gives its citizens the right to do anything they want as long as it does not injure others. This right was recently upheld in a court case where the court threw out the case against some men who had a few marijuana joints in their possession. The court ruled that "each individual adult is responsible for making decisions freely about their desired lifestyles without state interference. Private conduct is allowed unless it constitutes a real danger or causes damage to property or the rights of others." Arresting pot smokers "invades the sphere or personal liberty that is excluded from the authority of the state organs."

Wow! Is that a great description of freedom or what? And this from a country that has not had a stellar history of respecting individual rights and liberty. The article goes on to discuss that Mexico, Brazil, and Ecuador are also moving down the path of decriminalization or legalization of drug usage.

Put the actions of these forward looking nations in the context of a September 23, 2009 article in The Week magazine that pointed out that there are 2.3 million Americans in jail and another 5.1 million that are on probation. About 25% of these people are in their current situation because of drug offenses. Maybe it is time to execute Step 26 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." Maybe, just maybe, we can learn from efforts in these other countries and reduce both the addiction rate, reduce the incarceration rate of people in jail because of drug offenses, and finally reduce the resources used to fight the losing war on drugs.

Plastic Toys - And finally, a look at another political class program that has fallen flat on its face. Several years ago, there was a nationwide scare when it was determined that imported toys contained lead and other toxic substances that were endangering American children. Six of the major toy recalls were toys made and sold by Mattel and it's Fisher Price division. While the government fell down on the job initially by not identifying the toxic toys, it did rush through legislation to address the problem by requiring all toy manufacturers to do third party testing of their toys and improving their labeling.

These requirements put a severe financial burden on the smaller toy manufacturers. However, Mattel spent $1 million in lobbying Congress that allowed them to bypass the third party requirement and test the products in their own labs. Thus, the biggest offender of the toxic toy scandal got a relatively free pass from increased regulation. Kind of sounds like the TARP program: the biggest offenders in the financial meltdown got the biggest reward via no strings attached TARP bailout money.

These types of political class shortcomings waste taxpayer dollars and even endanger American lives while rarely solving the problem. That is why a major thrust of "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" is to downsize and focus government so that they do fewer things but finally do them effectively (and hopefully free of lobbyist influence).

Visit our website at www.loathemygovernment.com to order an autographed copy of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government -Fifty First Stpes To Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class" and to sign up for the cause. The book is also available online at Amazon and Barnes And Noble.