Notes from an eternal optimist

We are now in the New Year, coming down from the holiday euphoria, and ready or not, we must once again come to grips with the cold reality of everyday life; all those sticky wickets with which we have been wrestling non-stop for what seems like forever are still there and must be reckoned with.

We will have some participation from new sources, though. A new Congress is ready to begin its first session, and included in its ranks are a host of Tea Partiers, one of which is the new Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul.

Rand’s father, Representative Ron Paul, R. Texas, also a doctor, was re-elected to the House from his district in the Lone Star State. Rep. Paul, as many of you may recall, is a maverick member of the GOP, who just came off a run for the presidency in 2008. He is more of a libertarian than he is anything, and certainly some of his views set him completely apart from his opposition in his quest for the White House. Consider that he, unlike his opposition in the presidential primaries, was vehemently opposed to the Iraqi war.

Rep. Paul is also the author of a piece of legislation, H R 1866, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009. This simply worded act, if passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law, would change the definition of hemp so that it would no longer be classified as marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.

As I stated in a previous column on the then candidate, Rand Paul, I, too, am a libertarian. I know, because I took a test on facebook, and it said I was. And what could be more conclusive than a facebook app? (LOL) But, as I point out in that column, because both Sen. Paul and I share a political ideology, that does not mean we are in complete agreement on every issue. I, for one, am not convinced that the free market is infallible. Big corporations are as capable of reckless acts as big government is.

But there is the eternal optimist in me that sees hope where a pragmatist might see none. H R 1866 has at least 25 co-sponsors in the House, but has had no co-sponsor in the U. S. Senate up till now. That might be about to change now that Rand Paul is taking his place there.

The free market is beginning to favor the idea of allowing industrial hemp production in the U. S. For an interesting article on this subject, you might go to this web site: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-brones/legalize-it-and-i-will-in_b_322867.html. Here, the author points out how profitable hemp could be for both American industry and its farmers.

Hemp already has a fairly large presence in products available in the U. S. The article points out that “hemp makes its way into everything from ice cream to paint to clothing” and that it is a “wonder resource”. It is just not available to U. S farmers. Yet.

With the help of enlightened entrepreneurs, David Bronner (Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap), Isaac Nichelson (Livity Outernational Hemp Clothing), and certain progressive office holders, we could see the irrational policy that has outlawed the production of industrial hemp in the U. S. finally overturned.