Richard,
Excellent message, I couldn't agree more! They really are trying to stick it to us good. But I'm reminded of a (possibly apocryphal) conversation sometimes said to have occurred between Winston Churchill and Lady Astor:
A certain gentleman inquired of a lady whether she would be willing to sleep with him for 50,000 pounds.
After some hesitation, the lady replied that she supposed she would, in consideration of the magnitude of the offer.
Then he asked whether she would sleep with him for twopence.
"Certainly not," she responded with indignation. "Just what kind of lady do you think I am?"
"Madam, I believe we have already established that," he remarked calmly. "Now we are just haggling over the price."
If cannabis advocates concede that governments have the right to tax and regulate this plant *at all*, then any outrage of the sort expressed in your message below will inevitably seem a bit contrived, since the principle that we should be subject to their greed has already been established, and people like the San Jose City Council members are simply "haggling over the price."
Cannabis advocates who accept the general concept of "tax and regulate" on the assumption that the taxes and regulations will be fair and reasonable are like the woman who expresses a willingness to be a prostitute on the assumption that she'll receive a large sum of money. Once they have our assent to be their niggers, as you put it, it doesn't matter so much whether we start out as well-treated "house niggers" or poorly-treated "field niggers" -- even if they can't get away with immediately putting us all to work in the field from dawn to dusk, they'll be able to slowly increase the number of hours worked in the field through all kinds of complicated work shift arrangements, penalties for misbehavior, and so on, and what will we be able to say about each small "reasonable" demand? In the end we may even be lucky that the San Jose plantation owners have rashly demanded so much all at once -- it may wake more folks on our side up to the reality of economic slavery!
The best way to prevent this sort of outrage from ever arising is to make it crystal clear that regulation is unwelcome no matter how strict or lax it is, and that coercive taxation (permit fees, etc.) is unfair at any rate. Let's make them defend the notion that they have the right to take our money or tell us how or where to grow or sell cannabis at all!
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))