2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #231 "HARM REDUCTION"

       According to President Nixon’s Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, back during the Nixon Administration the choice was made to pursue an incarceration approach to drug problems instead of one involving treatment, even though they knew that treatment worked and incarceration did not.  Why was this done?  Because Nixon anticipated that the political benefits he would reap in being perceived as being “tough,” and fighting against something that could not fight back, would be significant.  And, again according to Keindienst, the actual political benefits were far greater than anyone anticipated.  But we all have been saddled with many tragic results from that choice ever since that time.

         Of course, the presence of mind-altering and sometimes addicting drugs in our society brings harms.  But reasonable estimates are that the drug usage itself brings only about 10 percent of those harms.  The other 90 percent comes from the drug money.  In addition, since no society has ever been without some of these substances, except maybe the Eskimos because they couldn’t grow anything, we should recognize as adults that harms will result from the presence of those drugs – and invoke a policy to reduce those harms.   Think of it this way: we can’t even keep these drugs out of our prisons, so how can we expect to keep them out of our communities?  (Charles Manson was transferred from one California state prison to another because he was found to be selling drugs from his prison cell – and he was in solitary confinement!)  And since, as stated above, one of the approaches that works is drug treatment, which also includes overdose prevention and care and needle exchange programs, those approaches should be emphasized.  (The old saying is that dead addicts can’t recover.)  Of course, this approach includes enforcement through some incarceration for those whose addictions push them into criminal conduct, such as driving under the influence, burglaries to get money to purchase drugs, etc.  So please use your Liberty and actions to help us steer away from the mindless incarceration of drug users we have followed since the Nixon Administration.

Quote for the week:  “And remember the truth that once was spoken: to love another person is to see the face of God.”  (From the musical Les Miserables)

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #230 "IN PRAISE OF SPECIAL FAVORS FOR AMAZON"

          Last year when Amazon was shopping for a location for its second headquarters, many states, counties and cities attempted to win that prize by offering Amazon special inducements.  Those included special treatment for purposes of taxes, zoning, impacts upon the environment and more.  Why would these governmental entities make such offers?  Transparently, they  were made because the offers would be of benefit to the company.  I think we would all agree about those benefits, so to all of them I give my praise!

         Obviously, where this huge company would move and do business would bring many benefits to that community.  Those benefits would include more investments and more jobs for workers, which would then, in turn, support the local barbershops, restaurants, stores, medical clinics and more.  All of this would then have increased the financial base of the community, and would also have provided much more tax revenue for all of those governments.  As such, all of these offers were legitimate and, in that regard, probably should have been increased.  So everyone would have won.  Well Done!  Oh, but just one more thing: If it would have been good for Amazon, it would be good for all other businesses as well, large and small, for exactly the same reasons.  So all of those offers should now be made to all businesses, so everyone would win also for exactly the same reasons!  It would not only be fair, it would be smart! 

Thought for the week:  Behind every successful man is a surprised mother-in-law.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #229 "I FELL FOR IT!"

         This past week I received a forwarded email from a friend with the title “Why Obama Hates Trump,” which stated that, since he had left office, President Obama had taken 692 travel days at the expense of the taxpayers.  It continued by saying that Obama had often taken with him not only his family members, but also friends and staff – to the extent that it had cost taxpayers about $214 million!  There actually is an allowance for ex-presidents to travel at public expense, but only reasonably and when on public business.  But, the article concludes, when President Trump found out about this activity, he immediately canceled the program, and stated he would call for Obama to reimburse the government for all non-work-related expenses.  Finally, the article encouraged the recipients to forward the information on to their social media friends – which I actually did to three people.  The next day, one of those friends responded to me that Snopes said this simply was not true.

           I fell for it!  And me, of all people!  Why?  Because within the last month I have taped interviews on my radio show* expressly talking about “fake news,” and how all responsible people should counteract it.  How?  By being skeptical before believing anything in the social media unless it was first checked out.  As you know, I am a Libertarian, and do not believe in censorship almost ever.  So that is not a way to address the problem.  And the government requiring private online groups to ban some groups or people is not what I believe should happen either.  Instead, we must all understand that sometimes the world can be a cruel and deceptive place.  So what is the answer?  Intelligence and skepticism in what we accept, what we believe and, particularly, what information we pass along to others as being true.  I hope and believe I have learned from my mistake, and for it I sincerely apologize to everyone – especially including former President Obama!

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

On our recent trip along the Columbia River, our guide told us that the Lewis and Clark Expedition had started to spend the winter on the north side of the mouth of the Columbia, where it rained continually, was cold and had no firewood or game.  After a couple of weeks a group of Native Americans came over in a canoe to great them and told them they should stay on the south bank.  Why?  Because it was drier, had firewood, was sheltered from the wind, and had no sales taxes.  (Today the State of Washington has a sales tax, but Oregon does not.) 

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #228 "THE LIBERTY TO SEE THE USA!"

My wife Grace and I have spent the last ten days on a trip first to Portland, and then on a cruise on the Columbia and Snake Rivers (which explains why you did not receive last week’s edition of this series).   We have such a rich and interesting history here, like what we saw and envisioned with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, so why go anywhere else?  As a result, this week’s edition simply recommends that all of us often take time to pause and reflect how truly fortunate we are to be who we are, live where we live and have what we have.  We are genuinely blessed – and all the more so if we appreciate that fact.

                Among my blessings is the fact that I have been able to travel the world quite extensively – but there is nowhere more interesting or beautiful than our US of A!  Most of us actually have the Liberty to be able to go where we want – no walls with the barbed wire fences facing inward instead of outward like were present in East Germany and now are in North Korea!  But I recommend we more often use that Liberty to see the beautiful places in our great country.  No passports, no changes of currency – and many times no changes of time zones.  Good stuff!  So why go anywhere else?

My favorite Winston Churchill story:  Frequently before he would give a speech, Churchill would go to the men’s room to relieve himself so he would not be uncomfortable during his presentation.  But it happened that one time he was doing just that at a urinal when his political nemesis, Clement Attlee, came in right beside him.  So when Churchill stopped doing his business and moved over to one urinal away, Attlee said to him “You’re getting a bit prudish in your old age aren’t you Winston?”  To which Churchill responded: “Clement, I know you, and any time you see something that is big, private and works well, you want to nationalize it.”

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.