Yes, yes, I'm sure you have just read my mind. Even though the thoughts I think about the nature and role of government have no resemblance to what you've written, I'm sure you know my mind better over an Internet connection than I do. And I'm sure, for instance, that the reason I'm on the Nanny State Ping List here at FR is so I can cheer on the Nanny State, even though I do the opposite. Truly, you have shown me my true self, O Great Prophet.
You, however, appear to be convinced that if the government doesn't step in and watch your kids, they'll be heroin junkies within the year, and no amount of parenting on your part can change that.
Mark Twain once said that there were three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies and statistics. But as smart as he was, he missed one, the sort that you've offered here: Buffoonish lies.
Show me where I said anything in our conversation or even on this thread about the government needing to prevent kids from having access to "gateway drugs" so they wouldn't become addicts.
Well, perhaps that is the level of child neglect you're used to, but most caring parents would take steps to ensure that their child is not out boozing it up.
I disagree with you on a point of public policy, therefore I am a child abuser...do you actually believe you're making a rational argument at this point? And isn't the bud supposed to make people mellow?
In your case, we need to assign government agents to your children so that they will be properly supervised.
Yes, yes, having a law that prevents little Billy from buying a six pack at the Super Suds is exactly the same as assigning government agents to do our parenting for us. Thank goodness you came to offer stunning clarity on that. [Nods thoughtfully, puffs on a pipe even more thoughtfully]
BTW, are your kids home schooled?
Oh, however did this country survive the first one hundred and fifty years or so where there were no federal restrictions on cultivation or usage of any plant you could possibly sow?
I don't recall discussing pot with you before this post, except to mention the fact that pro-legalization folks can point to abuses by police. Can you point to any arrests?
How did we survive those dangerous days when people were free to make bad choices for themselves?
You mean like yesterday, today, last week...? I haven't seen anyone ban cigarettes yet, for instance. There's no federal Department of Making Sure You Don't Get Four Earrings, a Sports Car and a 25 Year Old Mistress During Your Mid-Life Crisis. And certainly no federal agent has arrived to prevent you from posting silly and libelous comments on the Internet.
According to panty-bunching folks like you, we'd all be dead in a year or so if big daddy government weren't enforcing restrictions on our personal behavior for our own good.
Hmmmm...again you have managed to detect thoughts and feelings that I neither expressed or even detected in my own head. Truly, you are some sort of paranormal wonder! [Puffs on pipe in an even more thoughtful and impressed manner]
Have you considered offering the CIA your services so you can read the minds of terrorists for them?
You're not from New Orleans, by any chance, are you?
Blimey, I never noticed before how the failure of New Orleans and Louisiana authroities to implement even the simplest disaster plans is exactly like having a drinking age. Truly, you have enlightened me today, and the most impressive part is how you're not blowing things out of proportion at all!
Oh, and that "blah, blah, blah" at the beginning of your post...very witty and insightful. Your gratuitous insult made your point all the more compelling, old bean.