Kids not necessarily interested in 'smoking the peace pipe' at the PowWow
Since the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is now an integral sponsor of the single most important meeting of the minds involving Michigan conservative politics (the ‘PowWow being held today in Mt. Pleasant) a few questions come to mind as to how the average young person today (consistently turning in clean drug tests) might view the conference or this political platform to date. Three issues come immediately to mind:
1) The lack of grassroots outrage (not to mention participation) at the ‘rushed’ lame duck proceedings during the Right To Work assaults not only physically…but on THEIR future freedom both to assemble and speak freely at even the most well protected Capital grounds in Michigan history. Why wouldn’t a younger person simply offer the following(?):
Where ‘were’ you thousands of Michigan activists during these 3 full days; if not even to protest beside the other side against lame duck shenanigans that you don’t even agree with yourself? Did ‘Christmas’ and ‘SandyHook’ traumatize you so much that you couldn’t fight long and hard for us immediately afterwards? Why did you allow those with destruction/disruption as their sole motives to do things both inside and outside our (legacy) Capital that no others before or since have been allowed to do? Why did you accept Republican SILENCE afterwards knowing full well that a message was being sent to YOUR CHILDREN that they should never feel safe on the Capital grounds again and certainly expect the same treatment? Why could you not even force censure for “There will Be Blood” or demand (in chorus) that 26,000 teachers striking that day lose their jobs..immediately? Why are there far too many other issues to list here that negatively affected ‘our’ future..yet (obviously) not as much your own?
2) The utter silence of the grassroots on Senate Bill 1129 of 2012 (passed unanimously by Republicans) involving statewide Pension Obligation Bonds “with no vote of the people required”. Wasn’t this bill the very ‘devil’ that you all have been thumping and waving your constitutions around in the air at for the past three years or even longer? What does your utter SILENCE regarding these billions of new ‘guaranteed’ taxes mean to me and my family..for the rest of ‘our’ lives? How can I (now) trust ANY older person to not (unanimously) screw our generation by any means possible..if it means simply getting something for themselves, a relation or somebody that they don’t even know or care about?
3) Embracing, pulling resources from more important issues and ‘begging for money’ from NORML with medical marijuana laws already being abused more than an EBT card at our local corner store. Do you old farts really believe that anybody knows more about the current marijuana culture and its utter devastation on families than those of us who have actually lived through it since birth? Say we’re a Christian family that wants absolutely nothing to do with marijuana yet know if we need it (someday) that laws are already on the books to provide for us. Apparently, that is not good enough for this party platform or the individuals that I have been asked to work with in saving the state from impending catastrophe…IF my family (yes, I want to involve my kids; it’s a teachable duty) ISN’T ‘on board’ with diverting time, resources and money to an issue that we have literally witnessed lives destroyed around. Sorry, but we are NOT teaching our kids this crap and we sure as heck aren’t becoming involved in anything where our kids can’t even attend every single function (supposedly) designed to teach them the cause of ‘true’ liberty.
There it is. The (condensed) view of a young ‘square’ family seeking fellowship with similar patriots in their community. If I’m too old to know what they think or believe..it wouldn’t surprise me. I’m also too old to allow these events to happen without putting them into historical perspective.
May the Lord help us if our children ever figure this all out for themselves ‘before’ we’re all gone.
(3)Nuh Uh.
(14)
Integral?
Did the NORML crowd hand out "free goodies" to the attendees?
Hemp clothing is itchy and I'm fairly sure that and baked products would mess up anyone's drug screening .
Are they forcing people to participate in the MMMP?
Are they forcing people to attend any seminars with their speakers as part of the panel?
I'm of the opinion these neither of these would fly at an event like that.
If they want to chip in some coin to offset the cost of the event, I'm still failing to see the problem here?
I think the medical marijuana laws are ok, with generalized legalization requiring wholesale changes in our safety net. As I said in another comment, they were hardly noticeable.
I'm assuming that little attention was paid to my earlier (2014) fall election example involving a LGBTQ/marijuana ticket capturing 9% of the vote and forcing a recount between the dead heated establishment candidates.
This is the future, folks.
State Tea Party leadership is obviously heading in this direction and when these kids get jacked up enough to believe that "Colorado" is but getting rid of a few bible-thumping 'intolerants' on the LGBTQ issues?...the 'hard' issues (staying current on legislative issues past/present/future; integrating history/fiscal realities into decision-making and fighting for transparency/accountability) will leave on the same train in terms of thoughtful platform discussion. And after these two 'legalization' issues are on the books?...these people will immediately disappear in a cloud of smoke (literally) and leave but a long in the tooth 'skeleton' party in its wake.
These aren't true party platform issues as many (mostly Libertarians) would ask us to believe in a moral, fiscal and national security crisis.
They are mere distractions plain and simple from the difficult work needing to be done requiring much more sacrifice on an upstart movement's part.
Maybe it's just me but, I'm still trying to figure out who are all these old farts being mentioned that are to blame. Last count I checked it was 2/3 of the 18 - 29-year-old student loan debt booger eaters who voted Marxism, then were stupid enough to do it again. Oh, look, shiny. Yep. The if it's free it's for me Millennials because they were raised with everybody gets a trophy and/or a 9th Place ribbon just for showing up to Life 101.
Now, something was mentioned about the children figuring all this out? Do tell...
"..Last count I checked it was 2/3 of the 18 - 29-year-old student loan debt booger eaters who voted Marxism, then were stupid enough to do it again. Oh, look, shiny. Yep. The if it's free it's for me Millennials because they were raised with everybody gets a trophy and/or a 9th Place ribbon just for showing up to Life 101...Now, something was mentioned about the children figuring all this out? Do tell..."
Perhaps this attitude (above) is the 2009-present (older generation driven) Tea Party/'Conservative' mindset.
Pretend that the country was rolling along just fine before 'those darn kids' elected our current president...debunk the fact that each citizen is proportionally responsible for where we are today given their number of opportunities to actually vote/change course ('correctly' or not)...ignore the issues contained in the opinion piece above as they VIVIDLY illustrate why OUR 'activist' generation has absolutely no interest in stopping 'our' free lunch or loss of our children's freedoms anytime soon.
As far as our kids figuring this out and taking it out on us?
What are you going to tell a younger person who shows up at our 'Tea Party'...when he or she asks exactly why we all 'stood down' when THEIR right to freely assemble/speak was being crushed at Right To Work...or when THEIR (lifelong; as they'll certainly live longer) taxes were being raised through billion dollar "pension obligation bonds with no vote of the people required"...that 'supposedly' was at the very core of what we were fighting 'tooth and nail' for?
Sorry...but if I have to stand beside somebody who is blaming our children for ANYTHING...I'm not going to lift a hand to help them when the torches and pitchforks (finally/rightfully) come into play.
May God somehow forgive us for how we have shamefully destroyed their future through our decades long silence that obviously continues on through today...and (in my opinion) leave it at that.
Thanks for the conversation, JD. It made me realize that I've at this for a decade here (old site shuttered because... owner's reason$), and active in areas where most good can be leveraged to further the idea we were gifted, which is now slipping dangerously on its way to FUSA. No, I don't relish the thought of anything going on today be it the state or .FEDGOV level. If you've been around for a while you should be aware of that. Tho, I do have some issue with such a myopic view that just reeks of collectivism speak.
Well, I'll be damned... the mindset is December 17, 2014. Yes, the "18 - 29-year-old student loan debt booger eaters who voted Marxism, then were stupid enough to do it again." To wit, I will now ask what are you parents doing? Why have you raised that? Seriously, where's your values?
What am I going to tell them? No. It's going to be what am I going to ask that 2/3 if they ever show up. Oh, hi junior, what's wrong, is your XBox broken? Snapchat down? Run out of dope? Couldn't find one of your *dude friends* to get off with so, politics? Yes, I have witnessed their generation's 'activist' mentality here on RightMi.com, and it is what it is. Search for it yourself.
I make no apology for not subscribing to your Precious Snowflake™ meme you run with, JD, nor will there be any "torches and pitchforks" by your "children". They're already dumbed-down enough to subject/forfeit 6 years of their lives with criminalization (MIP), of which, 66.6% of that time is past the Age of Majority. You see, even as a legal adult (spare me that "they're teenagers" crap) they cannot even reason they are second class citizens, and an open wallet created by those sent to write
Lawstatute. Don't blame me - I try to educate them at every turn but, enjoy the criminal record and unemployment, kid.I also would like to touch upon the frequent reference to God, which I believe is a wonderful thing as long as the realization I came to many decades ago is respected as well... it goes like this. No, that is not directed at anyone - just in general.
Did anybody pick up on the fact that the Mackinaw Center pulled out due to the fact that they "only concentrate on policy" (their sole reason for attending)..yet there was effectively no "policy" discussed at the PowWow...anyways?