PARIS - The revolution has begun in Amsterdam. A revolution for civil liberties that ignores the dogmatic and outdated morality that western civilization has been wearing like a pair of blinders for centuries.

I visited Amsterdam last weekend. It was a strange feeling to walk around in a country that has decided to legalize and regulate so many things that the U.S. keeps repressed and pushed into our bad neighborhoods and inner cities, out of sight and out of mind. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was the Dutch had succeeded in creating here. Then it stuck me. It's freedom.

They have legalized marijuana and all natural psychedelic drugs including mushrooms, hallucinogenic cacti and herbal ecstasy. They have legalized prostitution, gambling, and most recently, allowed the usage of assisted suicide. Abortion is not politically threatened and - get this! - the people are free to make moral decisions for themselves.

Do these things scare you? They shouldn't.