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The Mind of James Donahue Refreshing Politics |
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Home | Aaron's Magick | Political Art | Genesis Revised | About Aaron | About James Donahue | Many Things | Shoes | Ships | Sealing Wax | Cabbages | Kings | Sea Is Boiling | Pigs With Wings | Lucifer | Goetia Spirits | Hot Links | Page 2 | Main Page
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If you are tired of all the political rhetoric as candidates attempt to lure voters into their side of the ballot,
take a refreshing look at a maverick Green Party candidate for a Michigan House seat this fall.
He is the Rev. Adam Wright, a 31-year-old bearded, long-haired, mail-order ordained minister in the Universal
Life Church. Calling himself the "Reverend Happy," Wright is conducting such an unorthodox campaign, people may express shock,
but they can't ignore him.
After winning the nomination in a Green Party caucus in August, Wright launched his "anti-corruption platform"
campaign for the state's 84th District House seat running against the incumbent Republican and a Democratic county sheriff.
He makes appearances dressed in a black top hat and carrying a fake (but very real looking) potted marijuana plant.
At first blush, Wright gives the appearance of a clown; someone not to be taken seriously. But if you stop and
listen to his message, you might walk away with a different perspective on things . . . the Wright perspective.
Wright is gaining a reputation throughout the state as an active member of organizations supporting the legalization
of marijuana. He used his Internet web site to organize a Marijuana March in Flint and has been active in supporting the Michigan
Marijuana Movement.
His anti-corruption platform calls for such unpopular things as photo speed enforcement of all traffic instead
of road patrol officers, the legalization of marijuana and prostitution, removal of the D.A.R.E. program and sex education
from public schools, the arrest of drivers who are under the influence of certain prescription medicine, and a heavy "fat
tax" on junk food.
If the Food and Drug Administration can't legalize marijuana, Wright says it should also make caffeine and sugar
a controlled substance because they are equally as addictive and probably more harmful to the users.
Wright qualifies his statements. "A lot of the things I say I don't mean to ever implement. I use these arguments
to point out social problems that need to be fixed," he said.
For example, Wright believes police constantly profile the drivers who they stop for speeding tickets and he
suggests that the use of cameras to nab offenders will even the playing field for everybody. "I believe that the first week
those cameras are turned on in my area, a lot of city council members will be paying speeding fines," he said.
He says the legalization of marijuana would be a major step toward winning America's failed war on drugs. All
the laws against marijuana use have done is create jail and prison overcrowding and force the price of the weed so high it
has created a very profitable business for criminals. In addition to that, Wright says it has erased hemp as a cash crop for
farmers. Because of its fibrous stalk and the fact that the plant grows quickly in almost any climate or soil condition, hemp
can be used for the manufacture of paper, clothing and rope.
Wright suggests that the drunk driving laws be expanded to include people who drive while under the influence of certain prescription medications that contain warnings against driving or using heavy equipment while taking the drug. He said most older Americans are taking these kinds of drugs but they ignore the warning labels and drive anyway. That is because they have to drive to go to work or get around the community, and they can't go without their medicine. Wright advocates a "fat tax" on junk food similar to the state tax on cigarettes. "Obesity is the number two
cause of death in America," he said. "We accept a tax on cigarettes to discourage people from smoking, but we do nothing to
address junk food in the same way. People do not need Twinkies, ice cream, doughnuts and all of the other food that is making
them fat. Junk food is leading to severe health problems and should be taxed like cigarettes."
He believes state laws against oral sex, sodomy and the prohibition of the sex act between two consenting but
unmarried adults should be stricken from the books. Wright says these laws no longer apply to most people but are used by
police to discriminate against certain people, including homosexuals.
He wants to see the D.A.R.E. anti-drug program in the schools abolished. "The program teaches kids which drugs
to use and how to use them. When I was in school it was just a big stupid joke.
He said the teaching of D.A.R.E., creationism, and sexual abstinence are all imposing a moral value on children
based upon the social belief system. "It amounts to a form of brainwashing. For example, if you teach children creationism
you can't expect them to use this information in the rational world."
Wright says he thinks there should be term limits on all state laws. "I think we should review all laws every
seven years and decide which ones we still want to keep on the books." He says this because after years of their existence,
the state legislators have written and created so many laws that people are probably breaking them constantly without knowing
it. "Did you know there is still a law on the books that a wife needs her husband's permission to cut her hair?" he said.
Wright said he was inspired to seek political office when he attended a recent talk by author Michael Moore in
Detroit. Moore, a Flint native known for books exposing corruption in big business, told how, at age 18, he successfully ran
for school board by promising to fire the principal and superintendent.
He said he became a minister of the Universal Life Church for a strange reason. I was looking for a church without
dogma. I even looked into Satanism and found it to be as dogmatic as the rest of them. The only dogma in this church is 'do
that which is right,' and that applies to everything." He says he got his ordination papers in the mail after answering an
ad in Popular Science Magazine.
Because Michigan has relaxed laws regarding ordained ministers, Wright's mail-order pastorate is considered legal.
He says his church is the planet. He doesn't conduct church services because the Rev. Happy seems not to have a congregation
of followers. But he says he has conducted a few marriages.
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