Experiments in Freedom

1. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   There are two sides of the coin in reference to the concept of liberty.
   On one side, freedom ... and on the other, discipline or boundaries.
   
   In the name of freedom we have freedom of speech. But, there are limits. In the name of freedom we have free market. But, there are limits.
   Without limits, what I want to freely do could end up hurting others. And in ways I could not imagine.
   
   So, now homosexual people can marry each other and receive the appropriate benefits which heterosexual people receive. But what is the effect on society? Is it good, bad or neutral?
   
   For instance: I wonder if legalizing pot encourage will citizens to smoke pot recreationally.
   THC is a drug which takes many weeks leave the system and has many negative metabolic effects.
   I do not think it should be encouraged… for the good of the whole of society.
   Laws tend to inform us as to proper behavior. I am against legalizing pot anywhere for any reason. If they want to dispense THC in pill form for medical reasons, fine.
   But to allow us to smoke the stuff? forget it. I don't want my grandson, who is now sixteen months, thinking it is just fine to smoke pot when he comes of age at 21. (Before the age of 21 it is a felony for kids to get caught with it in certain states. )
   
   Freedom is for the sake of life and for the sake of what is good in life, not self-indulgence and promoting downward spirals of destruction.
   
   In Colorado crime has gone up, as well as traffic accidents due to pot use. I just attended a wedding in Boulder, Colorado last weekend and this is what a local informed me.

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   1. 78

      wba108@yahoo.composted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Freedom is not the same as license. Many laws existed in the founding period against immoral behavior. With "immoral" mostly defined as against Christian moral conduct. And as you mentioned, freedom has responsibility attached to it, it requires viligence, courage and hard work. I think that's why a large segment of the population would rather trade thier freedom for a government handout, it's easier, and it requires no courage at all.

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   janesixposted 8 years ago

   Sure pot is bad for you, but cigarettes are much worse. Should we make them illegal? How about pop? That's bad for you too.

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   1. 77

      Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      THC is a very potent drug with negative side effects and it impairs judgement.  Sugar, and cigarettes do not impair driving ability. At the airpot I met an ER nurse who said pot related traffic accidents are very common.
      Furthermore, I believe, it is destructive to the brain/nervous system especially to developing brains which are not done developing until age 24. ( - namely, the frontal lobe where the sense of time is located.)

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         janesixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         So make it illegal to drive while on pot, just like alcohol.

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3. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   It leads to a downward spiral. Pot is not the great stuff people say it is. Pot is bad for you. To say otherwise is a myth.
   To encourage pot use by legalizing it, is a very bad mistake in my estimation.
   Why tamper with a perfect brain and body which took millions of years to evolve and which mothers take nine months of their lives to create?
   It is tampering with evolution for the sake of self-induced (hopefully temporary) mental retardation.
   I do not think it should be encouraged.

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   1. 59

      janesixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I thought you loved freedom. Wouldn't that include freedom to make your own choices? Even if that includes the freedom to be stupid?

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      1. 77

         Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Laws inform and educate and act as boundaries to too much freedom.
         legalizing pot is offering too much freedom and will have a negative impact on society.
         
         Or I could be wrong.
         Maybe people will willingly quit ingesting THC even faster once the underground nature of it is removed.
         In that case, lets just legalize all hard street drugs?

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            janesixposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            So you would be for outlawing alcohol, cigarettes,and unlimited internet access?

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            1. 77

               Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               No. Now I am for legalizing street drugs as well.
               Let freedom ring.

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         2. 0

            PrettyPantherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Ah, but see, if "hard street drugs" were legalized, they would no longer be street drugs.  They would be regulated and dispensed by licensed dispensaries.  Driving or working while intoxicated would be illegal, as always.  The black market would be substantially gone, since drugs could be obtained legally.  Drugs would be less toxic and more predictable, resulting in fewer ER visits.  Taxes could be collected from the sale of drugs to pay for addiction treatment, just as they currently are collected from casinos to pay for gambling addiction.
            
            I could go on, but do you get the idea?  That is freedom, but with a dose of common sense.

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            1. 61

               John Holdenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Somebody suggested that the most effective way of ridding society of the scourge of heroin was to legalise it.
               
               Very quickly the sight of middle aged men in slippers and cardigans out of their heads on H would make H so uncool that no teenager would touch it with a barge pole!

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   2. 71

      rhamsonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      "I do not think it should be encouraged."
      
      How is it you think it is encouraged? Nicotine is more powerfully addicting than heroin. Why is it that cigarettes are still legal if that is the case. Alcohol is more destructive to the body than either cigarettes or Nicotine. Why is that still legal. If your conclusion is that pot is so terrible how do you approve of the others?

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      1. 77

         Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Pot is a soft drug and the Cannabis species is the most important plant on earth. I gave both gay marriage and pot 5 years ago to be legal within 10 to 15 years worldwide. it seem we are on schedule.

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4. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   Happy?

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5. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   So laws are not as beneficial as one would like to think.
   In other words, laws are not influential in either encouraging or discouraging behavior.
   We could just as well leave life up to individual whim, since all people are very knowledgeable as far as good and bad effects of their behavior on themselves and others 
   and should be allowed to make their own decisions in all matters.

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   1. 0

      PrettyPantherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I've always found it odd how many conservatives support enacting laws to restrict personal, individual freedoms (drugs, sex, who you marry), but loathe laws to restrict moneyed interests from polluting the environment, hoarding wealth overseas, or poisoning our food, for example.

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      1. 61

         John Holdenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         +1
         
         It's threads like this that make me really glad I'm an atheist!

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         1. 77

            Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Theism is willful knowing of truth.
            There is science behind all religion.
            Some (both theists and atheists) choose to ignore it. (The science.)

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            1. 61

               John Holdenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Science! What science?

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               1. 77

                  Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  There is science to all religion based on the facts of creation. Reality is knowable in the sense that it was created and designed in a certain way.
                  
                  - and designed to function according to certain natural laws.

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                  1. 61

                     John Holdenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     How we were created has nothing to do with religion!

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                        Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Yes, it does!
                        Religion has everything to do with how we were created but has lost touch with it (the science) during the centuries.
                        For instance, religion teaches us not to focus on the material world, that it is really an illusion.
                        However, instead of focusing on the metaphysical world, it focuses on the material world in many ways!  It focuses on the dogmas and doctrines it has created, understanding them in limited ways for illusionary purposes.

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                        1. 61

                           John Holdenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           There are many different religions across the world. How did they all come up with the same method of creation?

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                           1. 77

                              Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                              All religions teach the same thing, but they are distorted in their myriad of ways, styles and interpretations.

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                                 John Holdenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 Ah! I must use that quote in another thread!

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                                 1. 77

                                    Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                    why not? It is the truth of the matter!
                                    
                                    This is why Jesus said, Forgive them ... they know not what they do …
                                    or say or preach or even WHY they do, say or preach…
                                      They understand not, and yet Jesus himself said we can find heaven by going within,
                                    
                                    ... through consciousness of God/Spirit: directly.

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                              2. 77

                                 Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 A United world of fairytale, that's nice.

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                                 1. 77

                                    Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                    a united word of reality would be better …  if you ask me, but ...

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                                    1. 77

                                       Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                       Like one world religion....
                                       Like one world order, with Romans, English , Germany and soon to fall Americans.

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6. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   And yet you complain of the GOP.

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   1. 0

      PrettyPantherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      LOL, answered in the above reply.  Why do you care so much who I have sex with?  Or who Joe has sex with?  Or whether Francine gets stoned?
      
      Why don't you worry about fracking, criminal bankers, and Monsanto?

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      1. 77

         Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I am really discussing the influence of boundaries on society and how they allow freedom.
         This is the ultimate use/benefit of laws: in connection with individual liberty and independence.
         If fracking helps us discover natural resources and helps the economy and is not detrimental to the earth, why not allow it?
         If Monsanto is using us for ginnea pigs, it should not be allowed. Why? Because of the negative affect on people's health. Many people I know cannot handle corn and avoid it now. Myself included.
         Criminal bankers should be seen for what they are and dealt with appropriately. why? Because of the destructive results of what they do on the economy and people's lives.
         If pot leads to increased deaths and crime, it should not be allowed.

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            PrettyPantherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Huh?  You think Mary and Alice having the freedom to get married harms society more than Monsanto having the freedom to poison our food supply?

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            1. 77

               Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Well, it will be interesting to see the results of legalizing something which is very unnatural, (homosexuality is an aberration, after all,) in the large scheme of things.
               
               I used to say gay people need to get married in order to adopt/raise children.
               - so many children need to be adopted and they would be happy in a home where two people love them...
               but, it is an unbalanced home, energy wise … compared to the typical where the child is influenced by both male and female energies …
               
               If this can be accepted by society and by children ...  I suppose it will be okay…
               It will be interesting to see….
               time will tell.

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         Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         YES!!!

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         1. 77

            Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Sugar kills 30 times greater than all drugs combined, same for tobacco. it's brainwash for greed, not freedom.
            
            Why make laws for anything we put into our bodies, it,s our body not the Governiment's or Corporation body, each of us own our own boby first. If someone eats wild mushrooms or takes too many drugs and dies. He is an idiot!!! That is one less stupid person in the world

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7. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   It is also why polygamy is a bad thing:
   unbalanced energies.
   
   Perfect balance of male and female energy can be achieved and should be the goal of married couples. It cannot be achieved by "married" triples or quadruples.
   
   It is a fact that God designed life to be lived within certain guidelines based on His plan for our return to Him. It is our destiny to Return to the Ocean of Spirit.
   This return is our first and foremost goal, (on a path toward true happiness/bliss.) 
   The path is narrow to keep us headed toward this goal, not away from it.
   Yes, this post tuned into a sermon.
   
   Happy Sunday.

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8. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   All religions teach us how to raise our consciousness to become aware of the purity of our own spirits and thereby merge back into the Great Spirit from whence we originally emanated as individual souls.

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      PrettyPantherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hmmm, somehow I think these religious leaders missed the part about purity:
      
      Jimmy Swaggart:
      
      
      Ted Haggard:
      
      
      Jim Bakker:
      

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