DECRIMINALIZATION DAY

Thousands of people this year will be warming up for their traditional
Fourth of July Independence Day holiday by first celebrating
Decriminalization Day on July 3. Decriminalization Day is the official
holiday for victimless "criminals" celebrated annually since America's 1976
Bicentennial.

In Santa Barbara, we will be picnicking in De la Guerra Plaza in front of
City Hall from noon until dusk. In Anaheim, hundreds will march in memory
of medical marijuana martyr Peter McWilliams. In Tennessee, various
demonstrations will be held against their governor's attempts to impose an
income tax.

Decriminalization Day reminds us that the essence of Americanism is
contained in the very first sentence of the very First Amendment, which
says: "Congress shall make no laws regarding ..."

Nowhere else in the history of civilization has a government unilaterally
denied itself as much power over its citizens as did the original Founders.

The Founder's respect for natural, human, individual rights to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness was so great, they fought a war for
freedom from taxation without representation, for the right to be left
alone from unreasonable searches and seizures, to retain unto the states
and the people all power not explicitly delegated to the federal
government. And they practiced much of what they preached in their daily lives.

Unlike today's immigrant bashers, John Hancock -- the signer of the
Declaration of Independence whose signature was so large that King George
would not need his spectacles to read it -- was a professional smuggler who
grew rich running the British blockade. What do you think he would do about
the recent case of Elian Gonzalez, or about the blockade against Cuba for
that matter?

Unlike today's pious drug warriors swilling alcohol and caffeine while
waging war on marijuana and other bio-chemistry for which they are
zero-tolerant, George Washington distilled liquors on his plantation and
grew marijuana by the acres. Thomas Jefferson likewise grew the wonderful
hemp plant, and wrote his drafts of the Declaration of Independence on hemp
paper. Most of the Bibles of the era were printed on hemp.

Unlike today's prudish Puritans, who pound on pornography with every
legislative instrument imaginable, Benjamin Franklin not only maintained
the largest collection of "gentlemen's literature," but held regular
meetings for gentlemen to read and share it. His governorship of
Pennsylvania, with his bastard son as personal secretary, was a model of
tolerance that even the Quakers found popular.

All of the Founders were victimless criminals, condemned by their
"divine-right" British king to hang. Most of them suffered terrible
tragedies in the loss of fortune, family and their own lives in order to
make the world a safer place for those of us who choose to exercise our
individuality without violating universal human rights. Imagine how these
scofflaws of "divine rights" would laugh at today's insane proponents of
"animal rights."

Imagine how these enlightenment-inspired souls would loathe the post-modern
inhumanity of the Endangered Species Act.

For those who have not lost their humanity, their love of human rights,
their desire for a humane society of tolerance and freedom,
Decriminalization Day sets a tone for reducing the violence now rampant in
American society. From the war on drugs, the war on pornography, the war on
illiteracy, the war on poverty, the ruling of czars and commissars

For every bureaucratic agenda, America needs to declare peace and stand
down the troops. From endless no-win wars abroad, America needs to
demilitarize. We need to stop building prisons faster than any other
construction, and stop being proud of imprisoning more citizens than any
other country since South Africa stopped apartheid and the Soviet Union
abandoned its imperialistic ambitions.

We need to give peace a chance instead of being seduced by the dark side of
the force as the only superpower on the planet.

Decriminalization Day is a day for midwives, chiropractors, medical
marijuana users, polygamists, same-sex marital partners, private gamblers,
lawyers who advertise, nudists who sun in the buff in the privacy of their
own property and/or on marked clothes-optional beaches.

Decriminalization Day is for those who drive over 55 miles per hour, cut
"Do Not Remove" labels from their mattresses, draft resisters, tax
resisters and unlicensed gun owners.

Decriminalization Day is for those who avoid sales tax by buying out of
state or over the internet.

Decriminalization Day is for advocates of needle-exchange programs without
needing a declaration of Health Emergency by the county Board of Supervisors.

Decriminalization Day is for atheists to join hands with faith healers in
celebration of the First Amendment's freedom of and from religion.

In short, Decriminalization Day is for you, if you value universal human
rights.

To research our free database of thousands of bad laws -- many in
California -- visit our Libertarian Society website at: www.silcom.com/~taxabo