The Economics of Hemp
The
United States today finds itself in a near unprecedented crisis, the likes of
which we have only just begun to realize.
Underlying the growing economic troubles, one factor exists which
strikes at the heart of the issue, a simple truth that, insofar as real,
corporal commodities with which to base the solid foundations of a strong
economy on, nothing remains unique to the United States. Real manufacturing on a large industrial
level has been outsourced in favor of multi-nationally sanctioned work forces
in near slavish conditions, information technologies have left our shores through
the miracle of global communication and real, solid labor has been falsely
deemed by elitist ‘princes’ to be beneath the desire of the American
worker. We have been reduced to a nation
of waiters and waitresses in a time when no one in the land can afford to dine
out. What remains of the greatest free
market in history but rusted out white elephants, subsidized fallow fields
where cotton once was king and phone banks, not long ago the last refuge of the
desperate seeking work, empty as the calls are answered now with alien
accents? Blame for this debacle can be
cast in a wide, encompassing, bi-partisan net yet what benefit is it to
blame? That only assigns shifting shame
but addresses not the problem. Herein is
an attempt to see beyond such divisions with a focus on finding a possible
solution that can not only resurrect the ghost of American manufacturing
dominance but can, with the proper application, benefit every Citizen of these
United States.
As
a nation now bereft of unique capabilities beyond the quality of our
communities, where can we turn to refocus our core? Our oil is imported and no amount of further
drilling will make an appreciable difference.
Steel, once the spine of our industry, has been out-sourced as has the
non-food agricultural heart of our nation.
The false economies of finance and usury are prisoners to the shifting
sands of international markets and global speculation. Even the spare parts with which to rebuild
the aging infrastructure of these United States are captive to the engines of
foreign production. What remains of real
value, that which we may turn to again without end, do we have?
I
recommend that we as a Nation united, turn back to our roots and grow, from the
seeds given to us by our Founders, a commodity with benefits everlasting. That saving grace, which we have through
prejudice vilified and by legislation, un-Constitutional and unpatriotic,
criminalized, is Hemp. George Washington,
our first and greatest President implored his successive generations to “Make the
most of the Indian Hemp Seed and sow it everywhere”. Thomas Jefferson, the soul of our
Independence, declared, “The
greatest service that can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant
to its culture”. Throughout our history,
this Nation, from its Colonial birth up to its Great Society, depended upon
this most useful and generous crop.
Then, through the unfair manipulation of market forces and the bigoted
slandering of race-baiting extremists, Hemp, that seed-bearing genesis of civilized
agriculture, was removed from our society and incarcerated for the profits of a
few.
What
benefits has Hemp? They are legion and
ever expansive without end. I make this
claim based both on established fact and a patriotic optimism in the potential
of a free people. In just the sphere of
non-food agriculture strictly focused on fabrics and fibers, Hemp has the sole
ability to revive American agriculture for both the independent as well as the
corporate farmer. From the design of new
and modern harvest and production equipment to the hands in the field; from the
factory worker building the necessary equipment to the salesmen on the showroom
floor; from the bankers who finance this growth to the secretaries in every
related office to the janitors mopping up the factory floors, the simple
introduction and national encouragement of Hemp as a non-food agricultural
product would provide hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now let us increase that scope to include the
harvesting of Hemp for every other potentially profitable product that this
plant can provide and that number of jobs instantly created can be counted in
the millions…and this just concerns the initial production of the primary
product! In considering the countless
commodities which can be crafted from this crop, from papers to bio-plastics,
building materials to fuels, and considering all the related industry involved,
be they design, production, sales, clerical, finance or the crafting of
products uncounted, Hemp offers a singular solution unfounded in any other
form.
It
is with a sense of impending urgency that I implore my fellow citizens,
patriots all, to consider anew the qualities of Hemp as an eternally renewable
source of capital gains. We sit on the
edge of a crisis of unprecedented proportions, one which we, four score years
ago caught but a hint of its potential.
Recognizing the realistic possibilities in this renewable resource and
exploiting those potentials with a purpose pursued with productive passion and
compassion, we as a Nation can guard against the ill effects of an economy
compromised. Another concern is the near
singular dependence of this nation on corn as a primary crop for both food and
bio-based fuel. By diversifying our
agricultural base to include the hardiest of crops, Hemp, we establish
protections against potential natural or designed plagues that could devastate
this country both economically as well as catastrophically diminishing our
domestic food supply.
With
a guarantee of domestic dominance for at least a decade, these United States
have the potential to not only provide employment for millions, but guard
against economic energy resources. With
Hemp encouraged as the primary standardized source of bio-fuel nationwide, a
model which Brazil has been able to accomplish with an inferior sugar cane, our
own domestic reserves of non-renewable fossil fuels can more than suffice our
dwindling need for such as well as open opportunities through market force
encouragement the expansion of other alternate energy sources. Herein lies great opportunity for those
fossil fuel providers to diversify and expand both employment opportunities as
well as profits while discouraging potentially explosive involvement in
volatile regions throughout the world.
This is, frankly, an open invitation to the U.S. based oil industry to,
with their experience, capital and capability, lead the nation in this effort
as well as to redeem their reputations now sullied by foreign adventure.
In
nearly every avenue of industrial production, Hemp has the ability to
dominate. From corporate giants to the
independent entrepreneurs possibilities exist which are only limited by the
imaginations of the most industrious nation ever known. Building materials, textiles, plastics of
every sort; the design, the manufacture and the sales of equipment needed in
unlimited areas; safe medicines, balms, oils and salves, food sources and the
culinary creations that come; all of this and more as the nature of this age
old crop is investigated, researched and put to positive, productive use. Where the United States has lost industry,
new industry, based solely on this hardiest of crops, can be found in all fifty
States. The ‘rust belt’, for example,
can revitalize and retool every empty factory that now stands. Family farms currently crushed by debilitating
debt would have a cash crop with which to rebuild that segment of the American
Dream. The potential here that exists is
nearly beyond individual comprehension, with each potential creating new and
greater possibilities with each American mind applied.
But beyond this grand dream of
an energized and inspired dynamic economy and the tens of millions of jobs
produced through it, how can Hemp benefit every single Citizen of the United
States down to its most desperate pauper?
Through a consciously recognized agreement amongst us all to, by using
capitalistic means, extend a portion of all profit, a tax if such a crude word
can be applied, to benefit specifically targeted areas of common social
concern. This levy, the “Hemp Tax”,
would exist as a recognized national agreement wherein all Hemp based products
would be subject to a singular levy and exempt from all others. This levy, designed with flexibility to allow
for market stimulation, would have set upper and lower limits. For example, a minimum amount might be set at
10% while an upper limit at 20%. I
choose these numbers, these percentages here, strictly for purposes of explanation
and admit that consensus would be required through national conversation. Having a variable scale for the "Hemp
Tax" would allow for adjustments to be made depending on other economic
factors as well. A similar yet much
reduced in proportion levy could also be allowed for State governments.
- 8% to benefit State and Local Law Enforcement agencies with a primary focus on increasing, nationwide, the average salaries of Law Enforcement professionals as well as upgrading equipment with a permanently growing fund;
- 8% to benefit Fire/Safety/Emergency personnel nationwide with a primary focus on subsidizing both greater salaries as well as providing a permanently increasing pool for equipment upgrade;
- 25% to train, hire and supplement the salaries of Public School teachers as well as modernizing educational equipment nationwide;
- 25% to serve as an ever expanding pool from which to ensure that every U.S. Citizen has access to the medical care they need at the provider of their choice;
- 25% to fund nationwide upgrades and modernization of essential infrastructure and thus provide a few million more locally based jobs;
- 9% to supplement the incomes of active Military families and to provide means to address the issue of homelessness amongst our veterans.
By
opening up Hemp as a protected national resource, intelligently exploiting it
at every opportunity and, by national consensus, dedicating a portion of the
ever-expanding profits to specific social aims, these United States have the
potential to stave off the impending economic crisis which we currently face as
well as to guard against future problems which will occur should the United
States continue upon the path it is on.
All that this requires is that we as a nation dismiss the prohibitive
social and economic prejudices which we have allowed to poison this most
promising and patriotic of plants.
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