Kristin Tate - Government Gone Wild: How D.C. Politicians Are Taking You for a Ride -- and What You Can Do About It

Dude, this is pretty f*cked up right here.

~ Stan Marsh ~

America, we have a weight problem. As our government grows faster than Kanye Wests ego and Kim Kardashians luscious badonkadonk, the freedoms that our once-great nation was built upon are being suffocated.

It sucks, right? And maybe youve felt some of the pressure. But thats what we get for electing entrenched, out-of-touch blowhards who look out only for their own interests. They ship our friends and families overseas to fight wars we shouldnt be fighting. They send police to break down our doors and haul us away to overcrowded prisons packed with people who never committed a single crime against anyone but themselves. They spend our hard-earned cash on things no disciplined family or company would buy, and manage to rack up millionsno, billions, no, trillionsof dollars in debt. They take lavish jaunts around the world, staying in five-star hotels and eating in Michelin-starred restaurantsand it comes straight out of our paychecks.

And how do they thank us? They spy on us by monitoring our e-mails, recording our phone calls, and peering into our bank statements. They tell us how to run our businesses, whom were allowed to marry, and what we can put in our own bodies, even if none of this has any impact on other people.

That, my friends, is no way to live. And it certainly isnt the way to run a country.

The liberties established by our Founding Fathers have been defended, time and again, in war and peace, through protest and conflict. These are the paramount values in our society, and they shouldnt be messed with. Our freedoms are sacredyes, sacred, dammitand must be above and beyond the reach of any intrusive government, even if that happens to be our own.

Freedom means the ability to live your life as you please, as long as you arent hurting anyone. Your life is your own damn business! Do whatever you want with it. Make that massive fortune and build a yacht so big that its visible from space, or live in your parents basement doing bong hits and watching South Park until your mom and dad are sent off to retirement homes.

Wait, dude. Did she just mention bong hits?

Yup, I did. And try to keep up, Smokey. Joints, spliffs, and bongs should be completely legal. If youre over twenty-one and want to smoke up until your eyes roll into the back of your empty skull, who am I to tell you no? And its certainly not the governments place to tell you that, either. Sure, that wouldnt be the smartest path to take in life. But your path is yours to choose or to ruin if you wish. Thats the joy of freedomsink or swim on your own terms.

Think of the millions of Americans who have drunk themselves to a slow death, and those who are busy doing it right now, at bars and in La-Z-Boys across America. Who cares if its a case of beer while watching the perils of Prohibition on Boardwalk Empire or a bottle of rotgut tequila in a dive bar or glass after glass of pricey Chardonnay on a Fifth Avenue terrace? Were exercising our right to indulge to our hearts content.

The big game changer here is if you then think you can drive or handle heavy machinery while youre all liquored up. Do that, and I am all for sending your sorry ass to prison, because youve violated someone elses freedom. You can ruin your life however you wish, but mess with others, infringe on their rights and liberties, endanger or harm them, and there will be consequences. Our society should be an open one for surebut not anarchical.

Consider cigarettes. We all know theyre bad as hell for you. The nicotine, the carcinogenstheyre killers. But we still sell them, right? And the government rakes in all that dough from the taxes. This is how we should approach the issue of illegal drugs. Its better to have them distributed safely in the open than via some trembling, strung-out, sleazeball dealer who might be selling you Drano instead of heroin (and who is probably armed and could just as easily rob or kill you instead). Were starting to move in that direction when it comes to marijuana, with Colorado and Washington State leading the way.