Why is it that those who are at liberty persistently have to defend it. The moral temper of the United States defends freedom along very narrow lines, defined by some highminded sense that some models of behavior are legally defensible while others are not. I do not speak about crimes like murder or behavior like making false promises, but about enjoying pleasure that does not impinge on the liberty of others and has little consequence for the moral temper of the nation.

At the moment, the federal government, in full swing to prevent access to marijuana, resorts to lies, biased reports it has paid to author, reads any negative signal as a sign of its righteous purpose, and irrationally obstructs justice and fairness.