My grandpa used to love to talk about the greatness of America, usually with a tear in his eye. Patriotism was strong in the Greatest Generation because they felt free and they were proud to have earned that feeling. That has changed. Back then the US government only went to war with other nations. Today, most of the US government’s declared wars have been against its own citizens and few young people feel as patriotic as grandpa. It is tough to be proud of a government that wages war against its own dying citizens.

Angel Raich is a 41-year-old mother of two who suffers from an inoperable brain tumor, a seizure disorder, wasting syndrome, and other documented medical conditions. She and her doctor had tried every prescription medicine that seemed promising but none had worked. When she tried medical cannabis and found that it provided some relief, Angel did everything she could to follow the letter of the law.

She only wanted to stop the pain. That made her an enemy of the state.

According to the DEA website, “DEA targets criminals engaged in cultivation and trafficking, not the sick and dying.” Yet the Department of Justice has fought this poor woman tooth-and-nail to prevent her from using the only thing that will allow her to live – a natural, medicinal herb that has been used safely longer than any FDA approved chemical, pill, powder or syrup. The DEA can claim that it does not target the sick and the dying, but it cannot shut up Angel Raich.

They have underestimated this heroine.

Angel could have gone quietly into the shadows and used her medicine in anonymity, but instead she chose to become a spearhead. Considering Raich’s medical condition, her stamina to fight has been inspiring and her tenacity has humbled many of us who have known the truth about prohibition for years but haven’t done a damn thing about it.

“Today I found out I’m basically a dead man walking,” said Ms Raich.

And she still won’t quit…

Angel takes marijuana every two hours to ease her pain and allow her to eat. She said she would continue to do so.

“Today the court said I don’t have the constitutional right to basically stay alive,” she said.

The three-judge appeals panel acknowledged that support for the medical use of marijuana was growing, but that the US was not yet at the point where “the right to use medical marijuana is ‘fundamental’ and ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty’.”

Two of the judges stated “that day may be upon us sooner than expected” as the public learns more about medical marijuana. But they said that for now, “Federal law does not recognize a fundamental right to use medical marijuana prescribed by a licensed physician to alleviate excruciating pain and human suffering.”

In its latest ruling, the Ninth Circuit has affirmed America’s modern view of Liberty. The nation that was founded upon a limited government and personal freedom has been turned upside down.

We used to argue about what the government could and could not do legitimately. Now we debate what the “free people” of the US should be allowed to do by their rulers. That is Liberty redefined.

In the beginning, Americans viewed government as a protective institution. Even the US Constitution was crafted as a reaction to a poor security situation arising from a failed Articles of Confederation. Americans were terrified of central rule, but realistic about public safety. So they formed a government and gave it limits.

Those limits were rarely taken seriously. From the Sedition Acts of early America to the internment camps of WWII, the US Government has struggled to become as powerful as the monarchy it broke away from over 200 years ago. The only check on this expansion of power has come from people like Angel Raich.

That is why the government is going to kill her.

The Ninth Circuit has betrayed Angel Raich and sentenced her to die for the crime of choosing her own medicine. Angel Raich is not a criminal. She is a suffering human being who has a right to life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. At least she would have been in grandpa’s America.