Posted on 02/15/2006 2:22:52 PM PST by MRMEAN
Conservatives never cease to fascinate me, given their professed devotion to “freedom, free enterprise, and limited government” and their ardent support of policies that violate that principle.
One of the most prominent examples is the drug war. In fact, if you’re ever wondering whether a person is a conservative or a libertarian, a good litmus-test question is, How do you feel about the war on drugs? The conservative will respond, “Even though I believe in freedom, free enterprise, and limited government, we’ve got to continue waging the war on drugs.” The libertarian will respond, “End it. It is an immoral and destructive violation of the principles of freedom, free enterprise, and limited government.”
The most recent example of conservative drug-war nonsense is an article entitled “Winning the Drug War,” by Jonathan V. Last in the current issue of The Weekly Standard, one of the premier conservative publications in the country.
In his article, Last cites statistics showing that drug usage among certain groups of Americans has diminished and that supplies of certain drugs have decreased. He says that all this is evidence that the war on drugs is finally succeeding and that we just need to keep waging it for some indeterminate time into the future, when presumably U.S. officials will finally be able to declare “victory.”
Of course, we’ve heard this type of “positive” drug-war nonsense for the past several decades, at least since Richard Nixon declared war on drugs back in the 1970s. What conservatives never tell us is how final “victory” will ultimately be measured. Like all other drug warriors for the past several decades, Last doesn’t say, “The statistics are so good that the drug war has now been won and therefore we can now end it,” but rather, “Victory is right around the corner. The statistics are getting better. Let’s keep going.”
Last failed to mention what is happening to the people of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where drug lords compete violently to export illegal drugs into the United States to reap the financial benefits of exorbitant black-market prices and profits that the drug war has produced.
Recently, drug gangs fired high-powered weapons and a grenade into the newsroom of La Manana, killing Jaime Orozco Tey, a 40-year-old father of three.
Several other journalists have been killed in retaliation for their stories on the drug war, and newspapers are now self-censoring in fear of the drug lords. There are also political killings in Nuevo Laredo arising out of the drug war, including the city's mayor after he had served the grand total of nine hours in office.
According to the New York Times, “In Nuevo Laredo, the federal police say average citizens live in terror of drug dealers. Drug-related killings have become commonplace.” The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says that the U.S.-Mexico border region is now one of the world’s most dangerous places for reporters.
Not surprisingly, Last did not mention these statistics in his “We’re winning the drug war” article.
During Prohibition, there were undoubtedly people such as Last claiming, “Booze consumption is down. We’re winning the war on booze. Al Capone is in jail. We’ve got to keep on waging the war on booze until we can declare final victory.”
Fortunately, Americans living at that time finally saw through such nonsense, especially given the massive Prohibition-related violent crime that the war on booze had spawned. They were right to finally legalize the manufacture and sale of alcohol and treat alcohol consumption as a social issue, not a criminal-justice problem.
Both conservatives and liberals have waged their war on drugs for decades, and they have reaped nothing but drug gangs, drug lords, robberies, thefts, muggings, murders, dirty needles, overcrowded prisons, decimated families, record drug busts, government corruption, infringements on civil liberties, violations of financial privacy, massive federal spending, and, of course, ever-glowing statistics reflecting drug-war “progress.”
Americans would be wise to reject, once and for all, the war on drugs, and cast drug prohibition, like booze prohibition, into the ashcan of history.
Pseudoephedrine is for amateurs. The big meth operations make their own precursors
The only thing more stupid and pointless than using drugs is the war on drugs.
Reagan praised libertarian principles, but he stopped way short of buying into the libertarian "anything goes" drug agenda. He was a stalwart opponent of drug abuse and was committed to keeping drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and heroin illegal.
Reagan was my kind of conservative.
So do I. No problem. I can understand why you don't want to speak about your attempt to use President Reagan in your argument.
Listen, my main point, which, admittedly, was not articulated very clearly, is that effective Presidents (Reagan, GWB) pick out a handful of critical policy objectives and devote all their attention and political capital toward those ends. Ineffective Presidents (Carter, Clinton) try to impose their political philosophy on innumerable policy issues, with the result that they accomplish nothing of value.
You might want to try Google. President Reagan had a great deal to say about the war on drugs...a great deal. If you want to lump him in with Carter and Clinton because of that be my guest.
Apparently not.
Would you like me to post some specific Reagan examples?
Don't you even feel the slightest bit silly trying to tie that to President Reagan?
Now that's comedy!
I must? Not likely.
Please do! :-)
Knock yourself out. My initial point was a very simple one, in response to your question as to why Reagan didn't work to legalize drugs while President. Moreso, I could very well be wrong, and I phrased my comment plainly as speculation. To be honest, I don't know conclusively how Reagan felt about drug legalization, nor do I really care. I admire many people I disagree with on some matters and discovering that Reagan opposed all drug legalization wouldn't alter my opinion one bit.
What a strange night on FR.
In your excerpt, no, he didn't. Did I misread it?
He not only opposed it, you can basically credit him with being the father of our current war on drugs.
I have NO idea what's going on. It isn't even a full moon, is it? Did DU and LP and clown posse all shut down at once?
Over floridation?
No, that would be Nixon; he even coined the term.
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