The Free State of Florida. That is what DeSantis has called us. I see freedom first as what our Forefathers gave us when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The freedom they gave us was the freedom of self-government. The freedom to create our own unique government that had never been done before. After they finished they came up with a way to amend that form of Government as time passed and the needs of the people and society changed. Still, the basis of the government was self-government. The first ten Amendments are called the Bill of Rights. The people's voice is their vote. Whether they are voting for a candidate for office or for an Amendment to the Constitution their voice is their vote and that is something that should never be suppressed but too often is. 

We have several Amendments on our ballot in the State of Florida. Two of the hottest are the Marijuana Amendment and the Abortion Amendment. Both amendments are controversial both statewide and nationwide so you can imagine all the money that is pouring into our state to try to influence the outcome. Money seems to talk the loudest now but it is the money that turns all our elections into that swamp that so plagues Washington DC every day. I have often said if you want to get rid of the swamp, you must get rid of the money. It is not the political parties that have corrupted the system as much as it is the billionaires who feel their money means they own the political parties and if their party wins they will own the government. That is what the billionaires want, they want to own the government. The easiest path to owning our government is through the Republican Party. 

As I stated earlier, I live in what Ron DeSantis has called the "Free State of Florida". We have a referendum on our ballot about abortion. It is Florida Amendment 4, Right to Abortion Initiative. I hate that it is called the Abortion Initiative because to me it is much more than that. To me, it should be called the Women's Freedom Initiative. Abortion is just a part of it. To me, the biggest part is a woman's right to privacy. How intrusive is the government going to become in all of our lives? Why is it the government's business what a woman does with her body? That is one of the most important questions. Our government is not a religion and was never meant to be a religion. In the "Free State of Florida" the pro-life groups that been very aggressive in their campaign to keep abortion illegal. They will tell you abortion is legal in Florida because it is legal within the first 6 weeks of pregnancy. They say that a woman's life is protected in Florida. Most women are not aware they are even pregnant so this 6 weeks business means really nothing. The present law in Florida was meant to take the woman's right to choose from her. There was a commercial by one of the groups that was campaigning for the legalization of a woman's right to choose the DeSantis administration threatened to sue television stations if they ran the ad. Some stations did pull the ad including the station I watch, Wink in Fort Myers Florida. The State of Florida was taken to court and here is what the Federal Judge Stated: "To keep it simple for the State of Florida: It's the First Amendment, stupid." That is what the federal judge wrote as he sided with local TV stations in the dispute over the pro-abortion ad. Again as the country and the world see in the "Free State of Florida", Ron DeSantis's administration doesn't believe in Free Speech. He restricts what can be said in our classrooms. He restricts words like climate change in our government and he now tries to restrict what we see on our TVs. 

Another Referendum on the ballot is Florida Amendment 3, most just call it the Marijuana Amendment. This Referendum would legalize cannabis for possession, purchase, and recreational use in Florida for adults 21 years or older. I know people that have been using marijuana for close to 60 years. It is one of those recreational activities that are enjoyed by Conservative and Liberal people. So why is it illegal? You have to go all the way back to 1937 to figure that out. When Alcohol became legal in 1933 a Federal agency was formed called the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. We know it as the DEA. Its first director was Harry J. Anslinger was strongly opposed to Hemp/ Marijuana. In his testimony before Congress, he stated: "Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind. Most of the smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negros." Anslinger's influence caused society as well as politicians to view him and law enforcement officials as the only experts in Marijuana. Hemp was a multi-million dollar crop that could have replaced many of the products used today but because they lumped it with Marijuana in 1937 it was banned too. Why? You can bet your ass that the companies whose products could be replaced by Hemp played a big part in that. 

Like the banning of alcohol did marijuana go away? No! just like prohibition, it opened the doors for the drug cartels to start dominating the drug trade here in America. We couldn't stop the importing of spirits during prohibition and we haven't been able to stop the importing of drugs into America. We are told today drugs are coming across the border by illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. I will tell you that most are not. They are coming across in trucks and on ships through legal ports of entry. They use the subject of drugs so they can discriminate against minorities just like the testimony in 1937 used marijuana usage by minorities justified the banning of Marijuana in the first place. To put it simply, we were lied to in 1937 and we are still being lied to today. In 1937 businesses such as the oil and cotton businesses wanted hemp gone so they could reap bigger profits and Anslinger used people's bigotry to help ban Marijuana. Today we have huge drug cartels making huge profits that want Marijuana to remain illegal so they can continue to ship it through our ports of entry. 

The Florida Government seems to be working really hard to try and make sure that Marijuana doesn't become legal in this state. Does the State of Florida benefit from the illegal drug trade? I don't know for sure but I wouldn't be surprised that there are a lot of bribes going on but I have no proof of that. I have also read that one of the ways to launder dirty money is through real estate and we have a bunch of real estate development in Florida. To not legalize Marijuana is to me an endorsement of the violence and the killing that has come with the drug trade and the drug cartels. Legalizing Marijuana may be the most sensible thing to do.