Westside Story – Are We Are Turning Upside Down?

Back in 1964 I had a college roommate, Melvin R. Hibbard, Jr., who is still one of my dearest friends. I am the only guy on the planet who persists in calling him Melvin R. Van Iderstine, Jr. Because I love words, I continue to enjoy calling him that even though I fully realize it is not even his real last name.

Adolf Hitler and World War II, caused Mel’s parents, who married during the war, to take Mel’s mother’s maiden name, Hibbard, since Mel’s father’s Dutch name, Van Iderstine, was often mistaken as a German name. Being German in America was problematic during World War II. In fact, Mel’s dad was rejected for a job by a California police department. They thought he was German. When my roommate was born, he became a Hibbard instead of a Van Iderstine.

Mel knows I love words so he sent me a copy of a brand new word, ineptocracy. The definition of ineptocracy brings into clear focus a concern I have for the future of our country especially for our grandchildren.

Now that we have legal marijuana in Washington State, it may only be a matter of time before these couch potato weedsters begin to spend their entire days watching day-time TV while sucking the life and energy out of the rest of us who go to work to earn money to support our families and these free loading tokers.

I know there are exceptions to my negative broad-brush stroke, but for the most part, people who spend their waking hours smoking weed and then spend the rest of their time looking for more weed are not the kind of people we can depend on to properly raise children or to make positive contributions to the world we live in.

As a former police officer, I have spoken to a good number of these marijuana buffs over the years and was always saddened by the fact that their top goal in life was to get free money from welfare or L & I. They boast about getting free money; no work, just free money. Once the free money starts flowing, they feel like they have reached a pinnacle of success. When you ask them what they do for a living, they state with great pride, “I am on L & I.” “I am on welfare.”

Of course we want to help our neighbors who are experiencing genuine difficulty, but I really can’t muster much enthusiasm for people who are down and out spending our money on legal or illegal weed.

The fact that 56% of our Washington State citizens voted YES making it legal to smoke weed vs 44% who voted NO, tells me we are starting down the slippery slope, which will one day turn our society upside down.

When the marijuana lovers confiscate enough of the productive citizens’ wealth and earning power, the productive citizens will no longer have an incentive to be productive, work or run a business. Once that happens, we will all be smoking weed. There will be no one left to give free money to the least capable.

I would imagine the ACLU, which I always thought might stand for American Communist Liberties Union, will be fighting for free distribution of marijuana by our government. Most of what the ACLU does frequently seems to have an element that undermines our country’s strength and security, all in the name of protecting our constitutional rights. After all, if we can get everyone in America high with free legal weed, an outside invasion by any enemy of the USA should not be necessary. We will be on our way to destroying our own country from within.

Should my prognostication come to pass, we will see our country go up in smoke, marijuana smoke.

Mr. Van Iderstine’s shirt really tells it all, ineptocracy.