Creator of Gmail Donates $100K to Prop 19
We all knew they Gmail was an immensely useful email client but I didn’t know that they creator of it was so awesome. Paul Buchheit, who is also responsible for google’s famous slogan: “don’t be evil” and adsense, donated $100,000 to support Prop 19 over the weekend. He is holding up his end of the “don’t be evil” bargain. I can dig it.
Here is part of what he had to say about it on his blog:
Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Philosophically, I agree with that. However, if we don’t feel safe, if we can’t go out in public without fearing for our lives and the lives of our family, then we aren’t really free. Since becoming a parent, I’ve come to understand why parents often seem especially fearful. Our children are so precious to us, and we must keep them safe. I can understand the impulse to simply make more rules, to build taller walls, and to lockup anyone who seems scary.
I think the real point of Benjamin Franklin’s quote is that when we destroy freedom, we are ultimately destroying safety as well. This is most apparent when we examine the disastrous effects of drug prohibition.
Not only is prohibition an attack on our basic right to control our own bodies and minds (a philosophical point which most people probably don’t care about), but prohibition also provides a multi-billion dollar subsidy to violent criminal organizations that threaten our physical safety and security, something everyone cares about.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. There’s two sides on this issue, real people that are ready for change and our progression as people and snakes that profit from prohibition. Choose your side. Yes on 19.
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