Bud Light Presents: Freedom
Written Fall 2016
The year is 1885 and The United States of America has just received the Statue of Liberty as a gift from France. Elegant and strong, she’s erected over the course of four months just a stone's throw off the coast of New York City. In her expressionless beauty, she stands proudly to withhold the dignity and sanctity of the great nation that thrives just behind her. Her sightless gaze spans deep enough over the horizon that it’s easier being measured by the day than the mile. Though her heart is icy stone, it still beats for the American way of life and all else that falls under her mighty umbrella. The love she feels toward her country is unquestionable as she stands in the face of danger against all who trespass against the great United States of America.
Since she first took post, Lady Liberty’s country has evolved into something new. A tangled mess of patriotism, skepticism and racism, The United States still insists on being the Number One country in the world. As is their right to think so. To live in a country founded on freedom and equal opportunity for any man is something to hold dearly. One can’t help but wonder; are these freedoms still the same today in the mighty United States as they once were? Are all men still given equal chance at the persuit of happiness in God’s favourite country?
As a whole, The United States of America makes up approximately 4% of the world’s population. Despite this, The United States houses 22%1 of the world’s prisoners and far and away leads the world’s rate of incarceration. Overall, 50% of the prisoners in the United States penal system are there because of drug related crimes2, 27.6% of which are marijuana related3, the highest for any one drug. In spite of tax and revenue jumps in states that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana (Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Colorado), the federal government still holds firm that cannabis is dangerous to individuals using as well as to society as a whole. In The United States, 60% of people 49 years of age and under believe that marijuana should be legalized federally4. Though president Barack Obama has spoken directly about marijuana being “less harmful to the user than alcohol”5, it remains a Schedule One narcotic in The United States along with heroin, LSD and bath salts6. The Schedule system categorizes narcotics by their addictive properties, potential for abuse and whether or not there is any medicinal use for the drug. Schedule One is for the most dangerous drugs with no useful purpose. Methamphetamine is a Schedule Two substance7.
You may be asking yourself a simple yet intoxicatingly complex question; “why does the federal government keep marijuana illegal?” The answer is a single filthy word; money. For this explanation I’ll focus on one particular piece of this rat’s nest to keep things simple. The interesting thing about The United States prison system that many may find themselves unaware of is that 6% of state prisons and 16% of federal prisons are privately owned8. What it means to own a prison privately is that a company or institute directly profits from the prison and are eligible for benefits from the state and federal government. As an example I chose the second largest private detention company in The United States, The Geo Group Inc. In 2011 alone this one company earned $1.6 billion in total revenue from their 65 owned prisons across America9. What causes companies like this to flourish is a steady rate of inmates. No matter the crime, each head on a state issue pillow is worth the same dollar amount.
You may find yourself still wondering, “why keep marijuana illegal?” The answer remains the same. As it would appear, from 2003-2012, The Geo Group Inc made $2.9 million in political donations10. In The United States, any one person can donate as much as they please to the political party of their choice. Companies, no matter the size, fall under this same seedy cloud and can donate untold millions to their candidate. The same as any other person is entitled to do. As a political leader, it’s often in your best interest to keep a hefty donor such as this satisfied. What better way to go about that than keeping something as commonplace as marijuana illegal. It’s a win-win, except for those being thrown into the judicial turnstiles as young as 18 for non-violent drug offences. What chance at freedom does a generation have once they’ve all been made criminals?
There was a brief moment where the American public became aware of the influence that corporations have on the democratic process. Among the other major donors for state as well as presidential elections are major tobacco companies such as Altria Group and Swishers International11 (both of which have made several hundred thousand dollar donations to the Republican party in this upcoming presidential election) as well as many major banks such as Goldman Sachs and Barclays. It’s understood that in order to become president, a candidate will spend approximately $1 billion in campaigning and advertising costs12. Considering the job pays $400,000 annually, it’s fairly easy to connect the dots and see that in this freedom loving country, elections are going to the highest bidder.
The American people took to the streets by the thousands in 2011 in a nationwide sit-in protest called Occupy Wall Street. Many young adults turned out for their first act of major rebellion against a corrupt government. Many protests were peaceful but that saved no one from mace showers and onslaughts of bean bag rounds. One of the more gruesome videos captured from a peaceful protest turned chaotic shows a group of a dozen or so university students refusing to move from a set of steps in protest. An officer proceeds to walk up and down the line of students and fire pepper spray directly in their faces at point blank range.
To this and countless other egregious acts caught on camera, the country as a whole revolted. The wealthiest 1% had been cornered at last. The people asked to be heard and now they had been given a microphone. However, it seemed this was farther than anyone expected to get. Nobody knew what to do next. They’d fought the guards, swam the moat but now that the castle wall had been breached, there was no idea of what was next to be done. Eventually the camera’s left and with them the tag alongs that never really cared in the first place. All that remained were the die-hard activists, and their shell of what was once an opportunity to demand change.
This specific act of rebellion rings in the similar key as Harrison Bergeron, the protagonist in Kurt Vonnegut’s short story of madness and tierney, 2081. Harrison gave every bit of effort that he could to fight the oppressive government that had been set in place to keep people equal in every imaginable way. Try as he might, Harrison still was unable to make any change at all to the dilemma that their civilization was faced with. He went so far as to give his life to prove the power madness that had overtaken the government of the faroff dystopia. The fight simply wasn’t enough. No matter the noise created, both on Wall Street and in the future world of 2081, the cause died and the people carried on with their lives. Caring as little as ever about the revolution that had just died at their feet.
Fear is nothing new to the American population. There’s always an unknown enemy in some far off land made up of monsters and hoodlums. ‘We’re not sure how to pronounce their names but we’ll be damned if they think our freedom is for taking!’ Blinded by their own irrational fears of a brown man shouting to an unheard of God before detonating himself on a 3:00 PM flight to Denver, most Americans don’t think twice about the chaos unfolding under the heels of their own soldiers. ‘We’re the good guys! We’re for beer on a Friday and God on Sunday. They hate our freedom, is all.’ With 1,147 innocent men, women and children murdered by U.S. drones between 7 different occasions on a hunt for 4113 men, one can’t help but ask where the monsters really live. Should we be the one’s hiding under the covers at night or have we become the Boogeyman?
More than ever, war is a constant nest for debate. Still, many are unsure about where they stand on topics such as the historic war in Afghanistan. Following the World Trade Centre attacks on September 11th, 2001, 62% of Americans felt the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were completely necessary14. Now, over 10 years later, 75% of Americans say the war wasn’t worth the cost15. What seemed like the absolute right decision proved fruitless for most Americans and left them clueless as to why the invasions ever took place. Questions such as these have created civil unrest within the once bulletproof nation. Faith in the government has become increasingly unsteady as more and more citizens begin seeing the errors of their own country. For many, the all-out manhunt for Edward Snowden (who revealed that the NSA had been keeping phone and email records of American citizens) despite president Obama’s vow to protect whistle-blowers16 proved the impure intentions of the American government.
Now more than ever, the country is in complete disarray. All the problems are on the table but nobody knows where to even begin. Bogus drug laws keep an already overpopulated prison system full to the gills. Children and toddlers are being fed prescription medication to calm their hyperactivity and level them out. Soldiers remain in parts of the world with too many vowels for the average Joe to pronounce. Photographs of American troops guarding Afghani poppy fields can’t give anyone high hopes of ever leaving the longest military campaign in the history of a country founded in bloodshed. Elections are being bought and currently only 24% of Americans have any faith in their government (down from 64% when John F. Kennedy was in office)17.
There are more reasons now than ever for people to buckle down and pay attention. At the same time we’re straining to focus, a whole circus of distractions dance by in our periphery. The childhood heroes of millions have imploded around us as Mr.Huxtable has been accused of drugging and raping over 40 women and Hulkamania is a closet racist, Brother. Bruce Jenner killed a woman with his car some 2 months before taking our hearts as Caitlyn Jenner (before she spoke out against gay marriage). A flat football won the Super Bowl and a sandwich spokesman was arrested for running a child pornography ring and having sex with minors. With all of this nonsense, it’s no wonder that absolutely nothing is getting any better.
Lady Liberty has seen better days. If she lives through the night, she’ll only see worse times to come. This once noble beauty is strung-out and ready to comedown. Sore and beaten, she’s been kicked around in the mud for a few rumpus decades of desolation. As she stands alone on Liberty Island, her knees begin to give way and she collapses to the wet earth below. She snorts what’s left of the American Dream from the underside of her thumbnail before sliding into the frigid Atlantic. After being milked for some 200 years, this Old Gal has finally run dry.