Easter and Freedom While federal legalization is still on hold -- the U.S. House has OK'd it, but it's iffy in the Senate, and the president opposes legalization -- Big Marijuana has been investing in efforts to make it happen in the not-too-distant future. It also spends plenty on sure bets like Colorado -- where retail pot is legal but increasingly problematic -- to keep pliant politicians friendly. So, it's welcome news that a new political force has emerged as a much-needed and long-overdue counterweight. As reported the other day by our news affiliate Colorado Politics, a Colorado-based, national political action committee has launched to push back at Big Marijuana and battle other drug issues across the country. The super PAC Protect Our Kids touts itself as a "group of parents who are tired of lax drug policies that harm our kids." Protect Our Kids will engage as an independent voice in races for legislative and congressional seats nationwide. Its aim will be to take out candidates who support marijuana legalization and bolster candidates opposed to drug use. Protect Our Kids promises to be relentless and focused, not only in its fundraising but also in its spending. It won't play favorites with political parties. It is targeting U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican member of Congress from South Carolina, in that state's GOP primary because she supports federal legalization. And the PAC backed a successful primary bid by Colorado's Democratic state Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Thornton in her run for the newly created 8th Congressional District. It's a political stride, and display of clout, that can't come too soon. As Protect Our Kids helmsman Luke Niforatos details in today's Perspective section, marijuana money is greasing the wheels of American politics. "...It is exactly this multibillion-dollar marijuana industry, in tandem with Big Tobacco and Big Alcohol, that is funding the push for legalization and contributing generously to elected officials who are introducing and supporting (federal) legislation," writes Niforatos, who also serves as executive vice president for Smart Approaches to Marijuana. "Statewide, the industry has spent more than $7 million in lobbying to reduce or eliminate regulations like the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act," he writes. "Nationally, the industry spent more than $8 million on federal lobbying in 2019 alone, engaging top K-street lobbyists such as Colorado-based Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck." Niforatos points out in his commentary that Colorado's U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet once opposed legalization -- back when he was chief of Denver Public Schools. But today, Niforatos writes, Bennet "has received thousands of dollars from the marijuana industry and now seems more than happy to downplay the negative consequences of legalization here." Niforatos told Colorado Politics that the objective of his PAC's efforts in Colorado, where pot is legal, is to ensure policymakers aren't "a rubber stamp for the marijuana industry." "The goal is to hold them accountable, regulate them tightly and do a better job of protecting our kids," he said. Given the toll the drug is taking in Colorado -- from soaring traffic fatalities to declining mental health -- it's a goal we all should share. The Sun Bay Paper Page 5 April 15, 2022 - April 21, 2022 Cont from pg 1 National News Countering Marijuana's Big Bucks Cont from pg 1 colonial officials and the king's clergy, thereby securing their loyalty. The Stamp Act assaulted the right to be left alone, and the Revenue Act forced colonists to pay for a religious establishment. These two British laws caused many colonists to realize they needed to secede from Britain and form a new country, in which the government would protect freedom, not assault it. Fifteen years later, they did so and won the American Revolutionary War. Today, the loss of freedom comes in many forms. Sometimes it is direct, as when the government dictates the wearing of a mask and the reception of an experimental vaccine, and punishes those who don't comply. Sometimes it is subtle, as when the government borrows $3 trillion a year and, as a result, our money and assets lose much of their value and our descendants will be taxed heavily to repay the loans. Sometimes it is secret, as when the government reads emails and text messages and follows the movements of cellphones, all without search warrants; or when it uses drones to kill people the government hates or fears, without a declaration of war or any due process. Freedom is the ability of every person to make personal choices without a government permission slip -- to exercise free will. Free will is the natural characteristic we share in common with God. It is His unconditional gift to us. He created us in His image and likeness. As He is perfectly free, so are we. When the government takes away freedom -- whether by fiat or legislation -- it steals a gift we received from God, it violates the natural law and the Constitution, and it prevents us from seeking the truth. Freedom is the essence of humanity. No one can achieve happiness or truth without it. Government is the negation of freedom. We know from events 2,000 years ago this week -- in the Roman Empire police state of Judea -- that freedom is also the essential means to unite with the truth. To Catholics, the incarnation and the perfect manifestation of truth is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To believe in Jesus is to take Easter seriously. Taking Easter seriously means that on the first Holy Thursday, Jesus attended a traditional Jewish Passover Seder. Catholics believe that at this Last Supper, Jesus performed two miracles so that we could stay united to Him. He transformed ordinary bread and wine into His own body, blood, soul and divinity, and He empowered His disciples and their recognized successors to do the same. That Jewish Seder was the first Catholic Mass. The next day -- the first Good Friday -- the Roman government crucified Jesus because it feared that by claiming to be the Son of God, He might foment a political revolution. He did foment a revolution, but it was in the hearts and minds and souls of men and women. Taking Easter seriously recognizes that Jesus had the freedom to reject His horrific death, but He exercised His free will to accept it so that we might know the truth. The truth is that He -- and we who have faith and hope and perform good works -- would rise from the dead. On Easter, that "far-off divine event," Jesus rose from the dead. By doing that, He demonstrated to us that while living, we can liberate our souls from the slavery of sin because, after death, we of faith, hope and selfless good works can rise to be with Him. Taking Easter seriously recognizes that the Resurrection of Jesus is the linchpin of human existence, as Tennyson wrote, "to which the whole creation moves." With it, life is worth living, no matter its painful costs or losses. Without it, life is meaningless, no matter its fleeting joys or triumphs. Easter has a meaning that is both incomprehensible and simple. It is incomprehensible that a human being rose from the dead. It is simple because that human being was and is God. Taking Easter seriously means that there's hope for the dead. If there's hope for the dead, then there's hope for the living. But like the colonists who fought the oppression of the king, we the living can achieve our hopes only if we have freedom. And that requires more than faith and hope and good works. It requires a government that protects freedom, not one that assaults it. America today is dreary, divided and fearful. The government is broke, overbearing and unworthy of belief. It threatens World War III abroad, has produced a mania about vaccines at home and now wants our guns. A revolution for freedom is coming. And yet, faith in Jesus' Resurrection -- which is also hope for our own -- infuses the souls of the faithful with a joy that only God can give. Happy Easter! Andrew P. Napolitano
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