<p>we are going to Belize and cancun I think. It is a 5 day cruise, this is a new holiday trip thing for my family-I have never been on a cruise before. Advice/hints?</p>
<p>The Morehead Cain is a pretty amazing program, as far as Yale vs. Morehead, I am not going to worry about what I would do if I became a scholarship winner, b/c that is two rounds down the road. i am just honored to get this far-seriously. :)</p>
<p>Funny story, I am actually a member of both the Young Republicans and Young Democrats at my high school.</p>
<p>well, the thing about pot is that the majority of people who smoke it dont only do pot. its known as the startup drug to most people because its easiest to get and usually makes you want to try other drugs.
while you cant overdose from pot, you certainly can from just about every other drug.</p>
<p>either way, its none of the government’s business. people need to have a certain amount of responsibility. legalizing could also have a lot of good effects. it would help the economy if we taxed it and would also eliminate a large population of our prioners, as a good portion are there on drug offenses.</p>
<p>In our econ class, we learned that legalizing marijuana is probably the way to go. That way, we earn major tax dollars, and some other counter-intuitive benefits. And I think it is the government’s business because smoking creates a negative externality. People these days don’t know what responsibility is. In fact, I’ve lost several friends because I’m not included in their smoking circles.</p>
<p>Off-topic with the current political trend in the thread, I just was amazed to realize, excluding today, only 8 more days left until our fate is decided :P.</p>
<p>Hahha I don’t think that one can “agree” with libertarianism but reject its economic philosophy…I’m really surprised there are so many libertarians on this board; I thought it’d be infested with big gov’t leftists.</p>
<p>Anyways…8 more days until I have to start working on my other apps…:(</p>
<p>I kind of disagree. While I know plenty of people who smoke chronically (haha–it’s kind of a pun) and talk endlessly about the other drugs they use also (E is another staple of this group), and most smokers I know also drink, I would say marijuana is a gateway drug only for some people. It doesn’t necessarily want to make you try other drugs. I’d argue that the progression from tobacco to marijuana for young smokers is more of a gateway than from marijuana to harder drugs. That said, it isn’t “good for the soul,” as a pothead friend of mine claims, and it can’t be good for your lungs (unless you have a vaporizer). It’s just fun and not any worse for you than tobacco/alcohol, legalized drugs.</p>
<p>I’m really glad to see that there are so many libertarians. :)</p>
<p>An obvservation that I’ve made in the past is that “smart” people (the type who would be applying to Yale), are often very polarized in their political views. They are either extremely libertarian or extremely socialist. Obviously this isn’t all-encompassing given the number of moderate democrats and republicans here.</p>
<p>As for the legalization of marijuana, I’m all for it. I don’t smoke and never will, but I definitely think it’s the way to go.</p>
<p>Ron Paul made a speech about this topic, hemp in particular. He talked about all the uses of hemp (how it has an ENORMOUS biomass, it can make cloth, alternative fuel, etc.) yet it’s illegal because you can get high on it. Then he said “Let me tell you something: you would need a joint the size of a telephone pole to get high off of hemp!”</p>
<p>@xatu- generally speaking, the higher education you have, the more liberal you are likely to be. however, IMO theres a bit of a backlash because theres another trend: the more income you make, the more ECONOMICALLY conservative you are likely to be. this combines (in people like me) into a libertarian ideology, where you can advocate progress scientifically (ie social liberalism) as well as noninterference in economic issues (so we can keep our money and distribute it around to decrease economic inequality)</p>
<p>If it were up to me, marijuana would stay illegal, and alcohol would follow behind it. The average person hardly needs yet another excuse for stupid behavior. I think you guys are overestimating the reasoning ability of the sub-ordinary person (the kind of person these drugs tend to attract). If you want to know the limits of their logic, try watching a youtube debate (not on the video, but in the comments) and remember these are the ones in their ranks that are smart enough to care.</p>
<p>Just look at the costs of alcohol. You have the body count from drunk driving and (if you count fetuses as lives) the body count from subsequent abortions necessitated by drunken sex. Then you have the social cost of spousal abuse from and absentee parenting caused by alcohol. Then there’s the economic cost of policing these idiots (when they’re driving, beating up their wives, vandalizing stuff, brawling in the streets, etc) and cleaning up after them. There’s no doubt that some people can drink responsibly. There’s also no doubt that some people can run red lights and drive 100 miles per hour responsibly. However, some people can’t, and since it’s destructive in the hands of those who can’t, it should be prohibited. Okay, and even assuming alcohol prohibition is unfeasible (and it is), why would we add ANOTHER drug for people to screw up with.</p>
<p>It’d be impossible to ban alcohol, but you could scare people into not wanting to drink with harsher penalties for alcohol-related offenses.</p>
<p>For example, in addition to a month jail penalty for possession of alcohol and a six-month jail term for intoxication, you could have life in prison for spousal abuse under the influence or DUI, death penalty for rape under the influence. You could throw in that people who have voluntarily consumed alcohol waive the right to sue for battery or assault.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to drink at risk of those penalties, you deserve the drink.</p>
<p>And if anyone’s wondering, I don’t come from a dry household. My grandpa owns a liquor store, my dad collects liquors, and my mom drinks regularly. These are my own conclusions.</p>
) in that respect</p>