“We’re not living up to our state motto.”
January 21st, 2012 by Alan
The following letter was sent to the Keene NH Sentinel and published in the 1/21 issue, appropriately headed “We’re not living up to our state motto.”
Dear Editor:
After a little over a year in New Hampshire (drawn here by the Free State Project), I have concluded that Live Free or Die is about as valid as an ad slogan.
The local police are repressive and aggressive. Apparently they think of themselves as roadside tax collectors whose volume of traffic stops and citations will help make up for the lack of income or sales taxes. I was pulled over because a motorist a few miles back saw me stop suddenly, which I did because the idiot ahead of me stopped even more suddenly.
In your chic and very proper town, a woman was arrested and convicted of a violation merely for using certain taboo words on a voicemail message (there was no verbal threat whatsoever). That same town acquired a military vehicle that belongs in Iraq. There is simply no need for the police to have this kind of firepower. Are they expecting attacks by bands of Taliban fighters? Ironically, the only public, symbolic, send-a-message suicide was the immolation, in your very town, of a white man whose life had been devastated by intrusive government agencies.
One more thing I understand about New Hampshire is that “live free or die” refers mainly to the second half of the 2nd Amendment. Your (not my) legislature is now considering laws that will make concealed-carry easier and (this one really makes me roll my eyes) allow guns at sporting events and other places where alcohol is available.
But back to the Amendment. I can tell you, as a professional linguist (PhD, University of Chicago, 1973), that the rest of the Amendment makes the right to bear arms problematic and equivocal. The text reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Right away, to gain any sensible interpretation, we have to throw out the comma after “Militia.” That may have been an earlier punctuation of a conditional phrase, but no longer. So the second half depends on the first. We also get rid of the comma after “arms,” because it would be a subject-verb comma, and that’s not the way we write English nowadays.
Apparently the Founders had in mind a citizen army like Switzerland or Israel, where eligible citizens are also Militia members.
But every gun-lover in New Hampshire has an interpretation that suits his/her right to bear arms – or disregards the first half entirely. Maybe they believe that old canard about being ready to defend themselves against tyrannical government, like the Minutemen or Green Mountain Boys. Too late, guys. The government already has all the firepower.
I’m beginning to doubt that the meaning of liberty is well understood here in New Hampshire, where we do not have medical marijuana, while Vermont does, and Massachusetts allows small amounts for personal use.
Come on, people! New Hampshire should be a leader in the use of this very important plant, not just to “get high” (and exactly what is wrong with that?), but to treat and palliate a whole range of diseases, from neuromuscular ailments to chronic pain. It’s less harmful than tobacco (a new study shows no lung damage), alcohol, and a host of prescription drugs, There is no known toxic dose.
The hemp plant can be used for many products, including paper, fabric, and – ready for this? — fuel. Something to think about as we watch NASCAR vehicles race round and round, burning up 3-4 miles/gallon.
It’s depressing to read the Keene Court Log and see how many crimes involve marijuana. That will change when the Free State Movement reaches critical mass. Until then, change your license plates.