Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Slippery Slopes in the Cascades

Here's the dilemma I face as both an Oregonian and a Non-Idiotarian: Pride in my home state, its natural beauty and pioneer spirit; and embarassment for my home state, its extreme politics and stupid government.

Here's what we're now famous for: Not our rugged coast, our majestic mountains, our lush forests; not Lewis and Clark, mountain men, the Oregon Trail. No, when people think of Oregon, they immediately think of Legalized Pot, Assisted Suicide, and now, Live Sex Shows. I doubt that's exactly the definition of "Westward Ho!" the pioneers had in mind.

This is what Bill O'Reilly talked about night before last. This is what's being discussed in newspapers and media outlets across the country. We're rapidly overtaking California as the Granola State -- the nuttiest, flakiest place in the nation.

I'm used to hearing (L)ibertarians, libertarians, liberitines, and liberals to one extent or another tell us that what kinds of activities consenting adults engage in in the privacy of their own bedrooms is their own business.

But now the supreme court has extended the definition of "bedrooms" to include "Joe's Tavern". As I've hinted at before, once we've established that any given system of morality is not applicable as a basis for law, NO system of morality can maintain its applicability. Each time ground is given way, it becomes harder and harder to defend the ground that's left. I'm wondering how far they'll eventually go before people have had enough. Heck, we have homeless people sleeping in our parks and under overpasses, that makes them bedrooms too, right? How long will it be before the defense of sex acts in public as Freedom of Speech is applied to ANY public place, not just private businesses?

I'd leave, but I fear that once the idiots are done clearcutting decency and good sense here, they'll just come after the next place. This is as good a place to make a stand as any.