‘Jefferson’ Through the Looking Glass
On Tuesday May 12 the Nevada County Board of Supervisors heard a presentation from “State of Jefferson” proponents that managed to be even more fanciful than the similar sales pitch made in Lake County last winter. It included the usual litany of complaints — northern California is somehow “unrepresented” in Sacramento, environmental regulations are destroying the economy, the state is wallowing in a morass of debt and taxes and crime, individuals and businesses are leaving in droves, etc. Several speakers also made a passionate though equally delusional appeal for an unspecified form of “liberty” that seems to boil down to the elimination of any restrictions on their capacity to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible by any means possible, and as usual abundant patriotic rhetorical flourishes were accompanied by verbal assaults on both the state and the federal governments and by rampant confusion regarding our nation’s history.
But there were a few novelties this time, such as testimony by a self-styled “constitutional expert” from Santa Barbara (an “expert” with no academic or professional credentials) who spent more time arguing that what the state really needs is more state legislators than in opposing the one person/one vote principle of equal representation that has become the chief target of SOJ proponents. The fantasy that elections are controlled by government employees who make up “50 percent or more of the electorate” also struck an inventive note.
Likely to be of particular interest to Lake County was the assertion by chief spokesman Mark Baird that “eight county governments” agree with the proposal to split the state — an outright falsehood uttered just seconds before his promise to “tell the absolute truth.” Actually only six counties have endorsed secession: Glenn, Modoc, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, and Yuba. The total of eight is arrived at by including Lake and Lassen, whose Boards of Supervisors voted instead to put the issue on the 2016 ballot for the PEOPLE to indicate their preference. The effrontery of the SOJ proponents in listing these counties among their supporters demonstrates almost as much arrogance as it does deceptiveness.
For more information about the complex issues surrounding this proposal and a link to the video of the meeting visit KeepItCalifornia.org.
Victoria Brandon, Lower Lake
Politics
Oct. 12, 2007, Hillary Clinton supported the invasion of Iraq, stating Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, had restarted its nuclear weapons program and had harbored Al-Qaeda, yet she did not support the surge that won the war. She pays her female employees $.72 per hour while paying men $1 per hour, for which the man on the street interviews of Dem women say they can’t believe it. You should have seen the look on these women’s faces, total shock, it was priceless. But this shows the typical uninformed voter. Well, it’s a matter of record, so believe it! She so far has not given any interviews because she believes she has 47 percent of the vote so why do it? This is not the proper way to vet a presidential candidate, but does that mean 47 percent of you don’t care that maybe with all of the questions about the Clintons it doesn’t matter? Does that mean you don’t care about who is going to be your next President? What’s tragic is to 30 percent of you it won’t matter. That’s the Lemming Factor!
Remember the hammering that Mitt Romney took over his net wealth, yet the Clinton’s made $30 million last year. Wonder how the lame stream press will handle that? Not at all! [Editor’s Note: All major news outlets, including CNN, Fox, CNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, etc. have reported on this matter]. Wonder how Hillary Clinton is going to handle income inequality? With mounds and mounds of Bovine Excrement!
The new phrase of the left “micro aversion” with race baiting as a side order. And if you haven’t heard of this phrase, it will soon become the word of the day, compliments of the lame stream media and Rev. Al Sharpton, “aide to the President” and who owes the IRS $4.5 million.
Mac McKay, Lakeport
Don’t numb the conscience
Why should we be against marijuana availability? Well that’s easy: because it numbs the conscience. The word means: con- “with”; science- “knowledge.” In other words, when we do something wrong our conscience tells us; we do wrong with the knowledge that we are doing wrong. You don’t have to be taught it is wrong to steal. Even a child knows that, which is why they hide the object or lie about it.
Numb the conscience and you can do all kinds of things that you would otherwise feel guilty about. Well, you may hear, “It’s my body.” That is true, but no man liveth to himself and your body lives in a community with other bodies, drives on the same road with other bodies and uses social services that other bodies pay for.
It doesn’t hurt anyone, they say. That argument is false. Everywhere we see a growing population of youth whose “harmless” lifestyle must be supported by numerous government and charitable organizations. Marijuana makes our young men incapable of doing what young men have always been expected to do: get a job, take care of the children they father and be a functioning and beneficial part of society.
I am sick and tired of people who benefited from social restraints in their youth now denying these restraints to younger generations. I recently was told by a local physician that marijuana was good and that we shouldn’t try to control it. I was sitting looking at the degrees on his wall and I passed by his expensive car on the way out of his office after I said goodbye to the three receptionists that were employed because of his education and I thought how selfish for him to influence others in a way that obviously he was protected or restrained from. Now a foolish old man, he wants to have his pot without the risk of losing all he gained.
A conscience is proof that we live in a moral universe and that disproves that we came from a Darwinian past. God writes his laws on our heart for the benefit of the individual and the society. If numbed, it will lead to actions that can cause a lifetime of regret, shame and blame. Don’t believe it, just check at any jail and ask how many crimes are committed where marijuana is involved. Stop by the local ER and see how much damage is done. Look into the budget for the county and see how much money goes to social ills. Or ask the parents of any young man or woman who has fallen for this lie that marijuana is harmless.
Stacey Salvadori, Hidden Valley Lake
