A student-operated publication at Santa Rosa Junior College.

The Oak Leaf

A student-operated publication at Santa Rosa Junior College.

The Oak Leaf

A student-operated publication at Santa Rosa Junior College.

The Oak Leaf

Growth and tyranny

First he attacks the Fourth Amendment by resigning The Patriot Act. Then he laughs in our faces when we ask him about our troops getting out of the sandbox known as Iraq in 16 months, another completely misleading propaganda piece. Now by attacking medical marijuana distributors in states across America, Obama has gone back on yet another campaign promise to allow states to regulate their own medical marijuana laws.

I consider myself a Civil Libertarian with ideas that cater to equality and freedom for all. The war on drugs attacks more than just minorities and the lower class. Marijuana is used to treat a wide array of medical problems from chronic pain to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Criminalizing its use is a direct attack on the 10th Amendment and individual freedom; forcing states and citizens to attempt to free themselves from a corrupt government that doesn’t take into consideration the wants and needs of the people.

Our prison-for-profit system is spreading across America like crabs on the toilet seat of a Tijuana strip joint and is building itself into an industrial complex.

In California, the prison guard union was the state’s largest lobbyist. The more prisons they build, the more long term, stable jobs they create in the private sector in the form of prison guards. With more guards, more dues are paid to the union. The union collected over $24 million in 2010 and $8 million went to lobbyists. Do I stand alone when I say that a majority of that money could’ve been spent on rehabilitation?

So why are prisons not run under the direct authority and responsibility of the state? Are the prisoners not the peoples’ prisoners as well as the state’s? If we truly are a nation of laws then can we really say “they” have him or her locked up in jail? Or should we be saying “we” have her locked up jail? Are cops not our employees with policies subject to popular demand? Of course! Their policies, actions and behaviors are subject to democratic values.

Barack Obama received a Nobel Peace Prize for campaign rhetoric and nothing else. If he simply stuck to his word, the drug war in Mexico would end and our children on the border wouldn’t have to grow up in a war zone. How much more Mexican cartel violence and influence is this country willing to put up with? Does adding to our gross domestic product by spending mass amounts of money on police state policies morally obligate us to enforce and incarcerate Americans who are supposedly protected by a Constitution that guarantees them the right to pursue happiness? Obama says time and time again that economic growth in America is in our best interest. It is clear to me now that he will not let matters such as individual freedom, states’ rights (constitutionality) and campaign promises stand in the way of that vision.

Truth be told, he is a puppet to the autocracy of corporatism. This explains why he does nothing to stop the rampant securities fraud committed daily on Wall Street. The corporations and financiers are now in complete control of the imperial reins. There should be no mystery as to why the puppet bows to the new international God known as GDP. The Empire is out of control and nobody in charge has any clue as to how to put on the brakes.

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About the Contributor
Drew Sheets, Staff Writer

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