Government Kills

As none of you know, President Obama signed a bill into law in June which personally affects my life. The Food & Drug Administration, more commonly known as the FDA, was given the power to regulate the sale of tobacco. Today was the first day that the FDA is able to prohibit the sale. All for the my protection. Thank you government, for placing restrictions on something I would like to buy. Yes, yes, it's true. I very rarely enjoy a Djarum Black Kretek Cigarette. No longer, unfortunately, will I be able to buy them, to put my hard earned money into free market. Why? Because if I smoke those things I'll die.

Let me tell you something. I DAMN WELL FUCKING KNEW THERE ARE BAD THINGS IN CIGARETTES WHEN I BOUGHT THEM. And I also saw the nice little label that told me that smoking is bad on the pack as I opened it and succumbed to the evil that is tobacco. OH EXCUSE ME. FLAVORED TOBACCO. But not Menthol. Nope. Why not? Well it's because Menthol has been around for awhile. Well it's still flavored, won't that attract teen smokers all the same? Yes but you see it's been around for awhile. I'm still not convinced. Well you see those foreign companies that sell flavored cigarettes in the US have been stealing some of our business, but NOT to fret, we(Big Tobacco, as they call us) have a bunch of shiny politicians in our pocket which we give millions of dollars to annually so they don't get voted out office, so we're going to tell them to but this bill into legislation that will BAN flavored cigarettes, ALL IN THE NAME OF PROTECTING OUR YOUTH.

FAT FUCKING CHANCE

No. I almost guarantee that this is being done so domestic companies can continue a government favored monopoly on cigarettes. Now don't get me wrong, I'm totally pro-tobacco. There literally would not be a United States of America without tobacco. It's a cash crop that never loses demand, what's not to love? But this is absurd. What's next? Kids have been playing too many video games which means they don't get outside enough which means they're obese and aren't studying enough, so in order to protect them, WE THE CONGRESS, and KING OBAMA are going to mandate that NO ONE can buy more than one video game a month. That's exactly what's they're arguing now! I'm 18 god damn years old, come war time, the tax man can come to my door and demand I fight or face firing squad, but because 16 year olds are buying flavored cigarettes, I can't buy them? That's absurd. If that's the case, we might as well stop selling alcohol to anyone, because somehow, kids are stilling getting their hands on it and driving drunk. Surely, those fuckers in congress and the King and his czars want to continue to protect our youth from the dangers on alcohol! Oh...wait...alcohol companies also spend millions of dollars a year getting congressmen to do their bidding. So much for that idea!

It just pisses me off...

People have been disregarding the health effects of modern tobacco 50 years now, it's still selling strong. It's a persons right to live(and die) as they choose, if they work for it. If that teenage pregnant girl working minimum wage at McDonalds wants to spend and hours worth of work to smoke 3 inches worth of death leafs to feel better about herself, you have no god damn right to tell her not to. Or that's how the argument would have gone. But I've just about given up hope. No one cares anymore. The government knows best, that's what they're there for, right? Why bother questioning under what authority the government has the right to ban an item that has been selling on the free market for years? Why bother question the constitutional legality of government Czars? Why bother question why the government takes 35% of my money(or rather, why the government takes all our money, and so generously lets us keep 65% of it)? Why bother question anything?

You know what?

Fuck Obama, fuck our unlimited term representatives, and fuck the judicial branch for letting things get so out of hand. Out of hand. More like ruined beyond repair. There's no turning back now. Not in the one party system we have now. And it is a one party system. Don't kid yourself. They're all the same. Congressman Ron Paul, will you do me the honors? "We have a one party system. Both parties endorse the welfare state and corporatism. Both parties endorse intervention overseas. But they also write the campaign laws. So they have made it virtually impossible to break the monopoly."

I was discussing this last night with my dad, and we both came to the same conclusion, going to Washington before around 80 years ago meant doing your duty. It was a burden. But come a couple big wars and a few greedy bastards, it's become a job. It's all about ME now when it comes to politicians. First things first, I need to get reelected. To do that, I need money. To get money, I sell votes(tying us back into the cigarette bullshit, see?). But it's not 'selling' votes. Now, it's just pushing legislation to protect our children. Don't mind that the only reason I'm here is because I get money from corporations that lean on me to vote on legislation in ways to favor them. From banning a product mostly made by foreign companies, to pushing financial regulation, everything is done to profit someone, and nothing changes in Washington. Did I say change? I hope those of you who voted for Obama because you though he'd change things are god damned ashamed of yourselves, because you should be. More so than cubans who voted for Castro and Germans that voted for Hitler. Nothing is going to change while people can be life long politicians. Obama never worked a real damn day in his life. We need term limits. Ever since being a politician became a job and not a duty, the idea of the people voting out incumbents is no longer a sufficient term limit. Senate reelection rate is 81%, the House is around 90% for the past 44 years. That's a 4/5 chance you keep your job for the next 6 years if you're a senator. Pretty sweet deal right? If I vote to ban that flavored tobacco, I'll get money from tobacco companies to campaign with, and with that I'll almost assuredly get reelected. Sweet deal, I think so.

People have gotten pissed off lately, and there will be a swing in congressional seats in the coming election, but don't let that fool you. Change is never coming in this system. Never.