Hawaii was the first state to raise the tobacco smoking and vaping age to 21, just four years ago in 2016. While that may seem like only yesterday, and that is certainly bad enough, there is now a bill to raise the age limit to 25. No, this is not The Onion, this has a very real chance of passing. Additionally, there is another bill that by 2025 would raise the smoking age to...wait for it...100. Yes, you read that right.
These bills had better not pass, lest it become contagious. Just like Tobacco 21 laws have proven to be. Alas, this evil train does NOT seem to stop at 21, nor will it stop at tobacco for that matter. It is apparently an express train, with 25 being next, and other rights and privileges also in its sights as well.
Well, everything except going to war, of course, since the war machine apparently likes 'em young, fresh, and green, as they always have. And of course the age of consent for sex (and you can probably also add porn and stripping, and even prostitution in Nevada) as well, since nothing says "adulto-patriarchy" like a little "droit du seigneur", apparently. In other words, 18-24 year olds are only (non-)adults when it is convenient for those in power. Thus, not only is tyranny as whimisical as it is bipartisan, but they clearly need to stop pretending that their concerns are moral ones, or even based on public health.
RIP Hawaii, paradise well and truly lost.
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Hello Ajax,
ReplyDeleteI want to share my condolences with your struggle.
I know in our past dialogues I've been focused on my own country while seeming to overlook what has happened in America.
You've gone from being the land of the free and home of the brave to the land of the babied and home of the lazy.
As a country that has done so much good for the world, it really is sad to see things go this way. Without you, we would all have been beholden to the tyrannical ideologies of Communism and National Socialism long ago.
Your country in the past was also virtually alone in opposing gun control, socialised medicine (whether you think it's good or bad), and the excessive welfare state.
One day, once I've well and truly won the battle against statism in my own country, I would like to move to your country to help in the battle for freedom over there.
In the mean time, I would still like to help in any way that I can. Feel free to ask me for help.
Regards,
Wayland
I agree with you overall, Wayland, albeit with some caveats. I personally support "socialized medicine" in the form of single-payer Medicare For All (more like the Canadian model than the UK), and when it comes to gun control I oppose both the British "gunless society" model as well as the American "Wild West" free-for-all model, preferring a middle ground in which the best part of the Second Amendment is where it says "well-regulated". And history has shown that a properly implemented welfare state (not to be confused with a patronizing and paternalistic "nanny state"!) has generally been good overall, while neoliberalism and austerity have generally been an unmitigated disaster on balance. But otherwise, what you say is right on the money. We are really becoming a nation of "we used to". And Hawaii is merely the canary in the coal mine.
DeleteIt's stranger than fiction, how we've decayed...
Out of interest, who do you want to win the Democratic nomination and why?
DeleteAlso, have you given any thought to practical politics? In my opinion, you should join one of the two main parties.
I support Bernie Sanders and hope he wins. He is the most progressive candidate that actually has a chance of beating Trump, and I agree with essentially all of his platform.
DeleteI am actually a registered Democrat myself, as I have to be in order to vote in the primaries. Within the corporate duopoly party system, I consider the Democrats to be the lesser of two evils compared to the Republicans.
Do you have any plans to run for office, at least locally?
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day
ReplyDeleteHigher minimum ages are absurd, they are the definition of tyranny. Legislators in Hawaii who supported this bill should be voted out of office because any other person would do a better job, governing. I support Bernie Sanders but I am wary of statist beliefs that he may hold and that those of supporters may hold.
ReplyDeleteActually, I will be voting for Donald Trump this year. I refuse to vote for the tyrannical Democratic Party this year.
DeleteSeriously? You will vote for Trump? Even if Bernie gets the nomination? Say it aint so!
DeleteHopefully, the idea of higher minimum ages don't spread to the mainland.
DeleteJesus H. Christ
Delete