To throw in my two cents, I believe this is part a systematic trend over the past fifty or hundred years here in the states, that take responsibility away from the people and individuals. If I have ringworm, e.g., to get effective medication, I have to get an RX. I know what I need (ketoconazole 200mg oral), I know the dosing protocols, but I don’t have an MD. The idea of an individual taking responsibility for himself implies an individual acting with authority. Think about the shitty jobs you had where you were responsible but had no authority–you were a glorified fall guy for minimum wage. I don’t mean to sound like Ayn Rand. To most CEOs and senators, we’re dollar signs in the accounting books and grunts to throw at the front lines.
Another thing that I see is that, ever since the sixties, government, and through it law enforcement, has totally freaked out over the freaks–i.e., anyone doing anything different from normal. Some RNC official, when questioned about what he thought about the arrest of bystanders–you better believe it happened–in NYC during their convention, said, “They’re all criminals anyway.” He meant the protesters, but he clearly didn’t give a shit about anyone else, or even so much as believe that the police could make an unfounded arrest. This attitude is more the rule among lawmakers than the exception, and extends to include pot heads, anarchists, and old anti-war veterans, as much as it does a two hundred eighty pound powerlifter. In a way, the culture wars reached an armistice–you can dress however you want and have as much sex as you want, as long as you keep in line everywhere else. Now everyone is free to pursue three-foot spiked mohawks and threesomes, so long as in everything else, you remain average, normal. Work hard so you can buy clothes to express your “individuality”: sounds like a control-mantra to me.
Ever since Nixon announced his war on drugs, because Vietnam wasn’t Nixon’s war, and Nixon, a true paranoid schizophrenic, needed his own war, stuff has gone crazy. We have ads telling us marijuana supports terrorism when most of it grows in corn fields in the midwest and tree patches in west virginia and one out of every two to three americans admits to using marijuana at least once. We know the terrorism line is a lie. But guess what: pro-hormones are a “drug,” you know, the drugs that kill firefighters and cops and schoolkids, the drugs that terrorists sell. And senators hate drugs. To them, your average steroid-drug-user is a homicidal serial rapist roaming the countryside.
Remember, finally, most CEOs and senators, liberal or conservative, don’t come from the trailer parks, or the city, or the farm, they come from episcopalian country club suburbs, north, south, east, and west. They didn’t go to public school, and the worst job they ever had was lifeguarding at the club pool and waxing dad’s yacht. They’re really not like us.
I personally do not know the best action. Keep in mind that, once in effect, this bill, despite our efforts, will make prohomones, which are safe, as illegal as heroin, which can ruin your next five years. I’m sorry for the length, but I’m writing between sets and it was something that needed to be said.