The Patrick-Patrick team had its hands full. Not only were they now responsible for orchestrating veterans' parades in dozens of American cities, they were still charged with continuing their quest to build support for Article XX: the legalization of drugs. Patrick Hamilton and his other half, Cher Thomas, were plotting their new itinerary when Lynn Patrick walked in to bring up a new 'twist'. "I'm getting a lot of flack from O.U.T.R.A.G.E. cells in the field," she announced. "Our efforts are being undermined by smokers who basically are saying, 'Why are you trying to legalize drugs when so many municipalties are trying to outlaw cigarette smoking?'
She had a point, Hamilton surmised. The state of California had been under an all-out smoking ban for several years now. If you wanted to smoke in your own car, you had to roll up all the windows. Most public places were legally obligated to ban smoking. In fact, you couldn't even smoke outside except in designated areas. City governments around the country had tried to tackle the problem with a mish-mash of no-smoking rules in their own communities. One Indiana city had wrestled through years of conflict between smokers and non-smokers. The local legislators had first required restaurants and other public facilities to provide separate smoking areas, a law that had cost small restaurant owners huge amounts of money because they had to remodel their establishments to conform to the law. Less than a year later, the same legislators decided to ban smoking all together in restaurants, bowling alleys, and other places where those under the age of 21 were allowed to frequent. Now these same restaurant owners who spent thousands of dollars to build separate smoking rooms for their customers were told those smoking rooms were now illegal! The law threatened to bankrupt many small businesses. What was even more astonishing was the vapidity of the law: legislators provided that some small communities within the county could "opt out"! It was kind of like saying, 'Do not pass go; do not collect $200; go directly to jail.....unless, of course, the town in which you live says otherwise." What made the law even more insipid was that the two legislators who admantly supported the bill were both physicians, who claimed they viewed this as a public health issue. "The consequences of breathing second hand smoke are far worse than we originally thought," said one of the doctors. "That's why we had to pass this law - to protect the health of our citizenry."
Anyone with half-a-brain knew it was political bullshit.
The law could be applied in a discriminating manner. If a restaurant owner in one small town wielded any influence, he was able to persuade his local lawmakers to "opt out" - the hell with protecting the public's health. If a smoker were to "light up" both the smoker and the restaurant owner faced $500 fines - an excellent way to enrich the public coffers with the money of (pardon the pun) public coughers.
Of course, the biggest argument was the simplest argument: if local legislators really wanted to protect the public from the health dangers from cigarettes, wouldn't it be easier to simply ban the manufacture and sale of tobacco products?? Politicians carefully overstepped that sticky wicket; after all, cigarette sales already generated huge amounts of tax dollars, even at local and state levels. Not to mention, that banning the sale of cigarettes might be in violation of federal laws that protected cigarette manufacturers and allowed them to continue making and marketing their cancer sticks.
If the Patrick-Patrick team wanted to legalize drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin, then surely it must also become an advocate for the legalization of smoking cigarettes, which - after all - took far longer to destroy a person's health. The stage was being set: the Patrick-Patrick team could soon find itself on a collision-course with "big tobacco".
Even though the national headquarters of most large tobacco manufacturers had been destroyed, and most tobacco CEOs were now dead as a result of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. bombings, the industry still commanded a huge presence in the United States.
Tobacco retailers and wholesalers, vending machine operators, and countless bars or restaurants that sold cigarettes stood to lose millions of dollars if the sale of cigarettes was banned. On the other hand, those cigarette sellers faced much more profitable futures if the Patrick-Patrick team were to support the legalization of cigarette smoking as a basic "right" for all Americans. This was a matter of free choice, as much as smoking marijuana would be if Article XX became part of the law of the land.
This also became a matter of states' rights. If O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was intent on eliminating 90% of the federal government, and returning power to the states and/or local municipalities, how could it even consider telling those states they couldn't ban smoking in public places? For that matter, what business was it of theirs to tell states they couldn't make drugs illegal? The quandry wasn't easily resolved. All O.U.T.R.A.G.E. and the Patrick-Patrick team could do was make cigarette smoking and drug use legal as far as the federal government was concerned. If individual states didn't want to decriminalize such activity, the federal government shouldn't interfere. The crux of the matter was that by making it legal at the federal level, it saved the federal government from having to enforce such laws, try such offenders, and incarcerate those found guilty. Legalizing drugs was one way of cutting the federal law enforcement budget by billions of dollars. If individual states wanted to go to that expense, it would still be up to each states' citizenry.
Legalization of drugs (or cigarettes, or alcohol) was an intensely emotional issue, just like abortion, right-to-die, flag burning and gay marriage were all emotional issues. Politicians had used these issues to rouse voters' rage in every election since the days of Richard Nixon. It kept voters distracted from the real issues such as a corrupt two-party political system; the banal influence of the rich and powerful in American government; the indifference of a bloated and incorrigible Congress; the untrustworthiness of the federal government; and the incompetence of a national bureaucracy that was out of control.
O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was sure to face heavy "lobbying" on this issue. While lobbying for or against an issue was certainly the right of any American, O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had to be particularly careful that no money influenced this political decision. It was one thing to answer a survey and saying, "Yes, I support the legalization of cigarette smoking" or "No, I don't support the legalization of cigarette smoking". It was something different to contribute money to influence the cause.
This issue was about to become one of the most explosive issues facing the nation's reformation. Patrick Hamilton retreated to the private bedroom he and Cher shared in their motorhome and lit up a doobey. He washed it down with a six-pack of Bud, contemplating what would be the best way to engineer an appropriate strategy for this upcoming conflict. As his team traveled around the country, the burning ash at the end of his Marlboro was sure to become a very heated issue.
She had a point, Hamilton surmised. The state of California had been under an all-out smoking ban for several years now. If you wanted to smoke in your own car, you had to roll up all the windows. Most public places were legally obligated to ban smoking. In fact, you couldn't even smoke outside except in designated areas. City governments around the country had tried to tackle the problem with a mish-mash of no-smoking rules in their own communities. One Indiana city had wrestled through years of conflict between smokers and non-smokers. The local legislators had first required restaurants and other public facilities to provide separate smoking areas, a law that had cost small restaurant owners huge amounts of money because they had to remodel their establishments to conform to the law. Less than a year later, the same legislators decided to ban smoking all together in restaurants, bowling alleys, and other places where those under the age of 21 were allowed to frequent. Now these same restaurant owners who spent thousands of dollars to build separate smoking rooms for their customers were told those smoking rooms were now illegal! The law threatened to bankrupt many small businesses. What was even more astonishing was the vapidity of the law: legislators provided that some small communities within the county could "opt out"! It was kind of like saying, 'Do not pass go; do not collect $200; go directly to jail.....unless, of course, the town in which you live says otherwise." What made the law even more insipid was that the two legislators who admantly supported the bill were both physicians, who claimed they viewed this as a public health issue. "The consequences of breathing second hand smoke are far worse than we originally thought," said one of the doctors. "That's why we had to pass this law - to protect the health of our citizenry."
Anyone with half-a-brain knew it was political bullshit.
The law could be applied in a discriminating manner. If a restaurant owner in one small town wielded any influence, he was able to persuade his local lawmakers to "opt out" - the hell with protecting the public's health. If a smoker were to "light up" both the smoker and the restaurant owner faced $500 fines - an excellent way to enrich the public coffers with the money of (pardon the pun) public coughers.
Of course, the biggest argument was the simplest argument: if local legislators really wanted to protect the public from the health dangers from cigarettes, wouldn't it be easier to simply ban the manufacture and sale of tobacco products?? Politicians carefully overstepped that sticky wicket; after all, cigarette sales already generated huge amounts of tax dollars, even at local and state levels. Not to mention, that banning the sale of cigarettes might be in violation of federal laws that protected cigarette manufacturers and allowed them to continue making and marketing their cancer sticks.
If the Patrick-Patrick team wanted to legalize drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin, then surely it must also become an advocate for the legalization of smoking cigarettes, which - after all - took far longer to destroy a person's health. The stage was being set: the Patrick-Patrick team could soon find itself on a collision-course with "big tobacco".
Even though the national headquarters of most large tobacco manufacturers had been destroyed, and most tobacco CEOs were now dead as a result of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. bombings, the industry still commanded a huge presence in the United States.
Tobacco retailers and wholesalers, vending machine operators, and countless bars or restaurants that sold cigarettes stood to lose millions of dollars if the sale of cigarettes was banned. On the other hand, those cigarette sellers faced much more profitable futures if the Patrick-Patrick team were to support the legalization of cigarette smoking as a basic "right" for all Americans. This was a matter of free choice, as much as smoking marijuana would be if Article XX became part of the law of the land.
This also became a matter of states' rights. If O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was intent on eliminating 90% of the federal government, and returning power to the states and/or local municipalities, how could it even consider telling those states they couldn't ban smoking in public places? For that matter, what business was it of theirs to tell states they couldn't make drugs illegal? The quandry wasn't easily resolved. All O.U.T.R.A.G.E. and the Patrick-Patrick team could do was make cigarette smoking and drug use legal as far as the federal government was concerned. If individual states didn't want to decriminalize such activity, the federal government shouldn't interfere. The crux of the matter was that by making it legal at the federal level, it saved the federal government from having to enforce such laws, try such offenders, and incarcerate those found guilty. Legalizing drugs was one way of cutting the federal law enforcement budget by billions of dollars. If individual states wanted to go to that expense, it would still be up to each states' citizenry.
Legalization of drugs (or cigarettes, or alcohol) was an intensely emotional issue, just like abortion, right-to-die, flag burning and gay marriage were all emotional issues. Politicians had used these issues to rouse voters' rage in every election since the days of Richard Nixon. It kept voters distracted from the real issues such as a corrupt two-party political system; the banal influence of the rich and powerful in American government; the indifference of a bloated and incorrigible Congress; the untrustworthiness of the federal government; and the incompetence of a national bureaucracy that was out of control.
O.U.T.R.A.G.E. was sure to face heavy "lobbying" on this issue. While lobbying for or against an issue was certainly the right of any American, O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had to be particularly careful that no money influenced this political decision. It was one thing to answer a survey and saying, "Yes, I support the legalization of cigarette smoking" or "No, I don't support the legalization of cigarette smoking". It was something different to contribute money to influence the cause.
This issue was about to become one of the most explosive issues facing the nation's reformation. Patrick Hamilton retreated to the private bedroom he and Cher shared in their motorhome and lit up a doobey. He washed it down with a six-pack of Bud, contemplating what would be the best way to engineer an appropriate strategy for this upcoming conflict. As his team traveled around the country, the burning ash at the end of his Marlboro was sure to become a very heated issue.
posted by Bushwacker! at 7:04 AM
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