Cash to make a cause
By Chris Jungle

All right, I'll admit I slacked off on my creative thinking almost all week. I successfully worked a graveyard shift, an evening shift the night after, and a day shift the next morning, topping it all off with drinking heavily and alone at a downtown bar. Throw in four divisional playoff series where only the American League had the dramatic flavor post season baseball series should have, and not a lot got done creating new and entertaining ways to look at the world. Needless to say, I was a little depressed.

Somewhere along the way through this week (okay, it was at the bar), I pondered whether all the words and wits and wiles I contemplate are necessary, and I even muttered out loud (albeit quietly) whether I was just writing because free speech made it okay for me to say almost anything without prosecution. Were all of my opinions of the variety that only the poor and destitute could find comfort in? Then, something happened in Oregon which perked me up.

Now, I don't usually look to Oregon to solve my minor depressions, but the news works in mysterious ways. A law had been passed in Oregon which would restore criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana. I could already see lawmakers coming up with all sorts of catchy slogans: "A joint gets you in the joint," "Smoke marijuana and this is the only pot you'll see (picture of a dirty prison toilet)," and "There's nothing high about being busted." Yes, the state law makers were ready to fill the jails and rid the streets once and for all of the slightly silly, overly hungry, random thought process dope smoking public.

Then, something happened in Oregon. People got organized. People with money got together and started a petition process to block the law from going into effect. In Oregon, 48,841 signatures are needed to block a law from coming into effect, and these activists came up with more than 90,000. Now, the law will become part of public choice when it appears on the ballot in November. Wait a minute, what did I just say? Did I just say the people get to decide? What a concept! Can it be real? Can it be true? Can it really have happened in Oregon?

And all it took was wealthy marijuana activists to throw the money down and decide it's not okay for the lawmakers to make criminals out of users who do nothing wrong. Hey, did I just say that? The wealthy are fighting for causes other than making themselves more wealthy. I've been transported into some strange Ted Turner dream where everyone looks like characters from a colorized version of Reefer Madness, but no one freaks out or kills anybody. Instead, the rich come, give everybody hugs and kisses, and tell us to keep up the good work. I didn't approve of the colorization, but I liked the new Hollywood style ending.

How long could this last? Will the rich and powerful and pretty and famous and glamorous and prosperous decide it's better to help out the poor than buying the big, big boat by the bay? Will they decide it's better to contribute to local art and theater scenes than buying a new car every year? Have the rich figured out through mathematical equations that the meek will truly inherit the Earth, so they better start being nice to them? Or am I just taking one incident and blowing it up into a generalization in which theory would solve many problems in the world? If it's the latter, don't tell me. This is my therapy, and it's cheaper than most options.

Whatever the reason for the rich pot activists rising up in Oregon, it's boosted my step a little bit. I'm still going to have to work strange hours of the day, I'm still going to watch the playoffs even though all of the baseball teams I root for didn't make it (damn Giants), and I'm still going to question the relevance of all my actions and deeds. But the rich may be changing, and possibly, maybe only slightly but possibly, the wealthy are starting to look down at all of us stuck in the sinky sand. Who knows? Someday they may even lend a hand to pull us all out.

Chris Jungle admits he is not part of the meek, but he knows enough of them to get into their parties.

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