What the Hey?? Is this America?

Of recent, as people chat about the politically induced events happening in our country, I have chalked it up to gossip. You know, the normal, everyone favors the presidential elective until they are in office, then, true to our reputation, we Americans dislike our new official. It seems to be a regular occurrence with our populous. Myself? I’ve always believed if we, the majority, elect a U.S. president, it is our obligation to support him. I mean, how does it look to the rest of the world if we hate our leader? I’ll step forward and say how it looks—weak as a people and as a nation!

Now like I stated, I am not a complainer by nature. Sure, I hurt, I bitch, we all do. But for the most part, I keep these opinions to myself—not after yesterday. This may sound stupid to some, but as a “big picture” it frightened me. I go to the local smoke shop to buy a pack of suicide sticks (I know, I seem much more intelligent than that), the only bad habit I have, okay, “really” bad habit, I get it, I get it! When I walk in the door I immediately notice numerous changes in the place. I ask the merchant, “What’s up?” She told me that because of the new laws, her store had to change. No longer is she allowed to have any signage outside (no advertizing). All inside advertizing MUST be in black and white only. What and why are my questions. In addition, nobody is allowed to touch the cigarettes until they are purchased. She said they gave no explanation for any of this.

So basically, because I smoke, I am not allowed to see color any longer—bad me! She also told me the new e-cigarettes are now illegal. For those of you who don’t know what an e-cigarette is, it is a safe alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes. It also produces no second-hand smoke (learn about them at http://smokeecig.blogspot.com/). I use them to reduce my tobacco use. So why then is it illegal? One BIG reason is likely because the tobacco companies are losing money; that means less tobacco tax collected.

For the first time I see what the beef is about and I’m onboard. So ultimately, where are we? I don’t want to live in North Korea or Russia in the 70’s. I can only be thankful I am getting older, and hopefully, my world won’t change much more before I die because old people don’t adapt well to change!