Posted on 02/17/2008 12:37:20 PM PST by goorala
The Republican Party is crumbling. They lost congress in 2006 and will lose more ground in 2008 because they offer nothing new, nothing original, and nothing positive. We have seen the party of entrepreneurship, small government, and personal freedom become the party of fear, war, and police power. After the party leaders mocked, sneered, and cackled at those of us who believe in a limited constitutional republic, they now ask us to hold our nose and support John McCain.
(FYI - I was involved in the Republican Party for almost 20 years):
John McCain recently said the U.S. Government should step up the drug war. This is indicative of why the Republican Party is crumbling, they don’t think things through and smart people are catching on.
I don’t care if you are on the right or the left, rich or poor, Christian or Atheist, black or white, if you value your personal freedom, it is time to stand together and question these people.
I have readers asking me why I won’t tow the Republican party line, and support John McCain. I’ll tell you why. I don’t agree with John McCain on much of anything. One of those disagreements is the about the drug war.
We’ve had almost 40 years of failed drug policy. In the past, when it was clear our efforts were failing, the politician’s solution was to escalate the war, increase police powers, and further restrict individual liberty. We’ve seen this pattern repeated for decades… escalate the war, the problems grows, react with more escalation, the problem continues to grow, react again, more escalation…
And now the Republican front-runner tells us, once again, that we need more of what hasn’t worked. Isn’t that insanity defined?
The modern war on drugs officially started in the late 60s. The results are in: Abject failure.
Whenever an elected official uses the word war, pay attention, because freedom is the first casualty of war. During the US Civil War, Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus for the ‘common good.’ After the war ended, it was restored. During the First and Second World Wars, the government suspended almost every personal and economic liberty. After the wars ended, most of our rights were restored.
Those wars had clear beginnings and ends, but today we have wars which never end. How do we win the war on drugs? How do we win the war on terror?
Meanwhile our leaders tell us we must accept every new encroachment on our personal freedom, because it serves a greater public good. Where will this end? How much freedom are we willing to sacrifice for safety? Why isn’t anyone in power asking these questions?
Right now we have over 2 million people incarcerated in the US, more than any other nation in the world including Russia and China. How many people are we willing to incarcerate to win the war on drugs? 4 million? 10 million? 20 million? We are fast approaching a point when we will imprison more people than Stalin or Pol Pot.
And how much money are we willing to spend? 100 billion? a trillion? 10 trillion? Are we willing to go bankrupt because we are too stubborn to accept that there might be a better solution?
In Stillwater Minnesota, in the late 1980s, the US Federal Government seized a family home because a fifteen year old boy sold a hit of acid to a friend in his basement bedroom. This was a kid, not a kingpin. His parents worked their entire lives to pay for that home, and while suffering the anguish of their teenage son’s drug abuse, the government showed its compassion by stealing their home. Back in the day, it was big news, because this gross abuse of power was new. Most people knew it was insane, but they did nothing, and today property seizures have become so common the news doesn’t even report them.
The drug war and the war on terror are stripping us of our civil liberties, and when we protest, politicians like McCain sneer and call us dangerous and crazy. You know what’s dangerous and crazy? Quietly accepting a government which steals from it citizens.
There are five high level steps for planning and executing anything:
With the war on drugs, the US government skipped step #2, #3, and #4 and went straight to #5.
Like this:
1. Drugs appear to be hurting some people. We have a moral responsibility to do something.
5. Police action
And when these actions didn’t create the desired result, did they regroup and brainstorm? No, they pushed for more of the same. If you listen to John McCain you’d think we are failing because we haven’t imprisoned or killed enough people.
What is McCain’s vision for the war on drugs? Does anyone know what desired outcome would look like? Is it a world without drugs? Is that realistic? If so, is it a world without every drug or just some drugs? Who will decide which drugs to eliminate from our lives, us as individuals or a committee in Washington? Maybe his desired outcome is a world without drug users? Or a world where every drug user is locked in a cage? Mao would be proud.
My vision is a day when drug and alcohol use is treated as a potential health issue and not a moral failing.
On a closely related note… Some of my Republican readers can’t understand why I’ve said that Barack Obama may be preferable to McCain.
I’ll tell you why…
The Republican leadership hasn’t adopted a new idea in almost 30 years, and John McCain is the problem personified. He himself said he doesn’t know much about economics and economic policy is the only reason I’d vote for a Republican. I lean libertarian, and McCain fails every test of personal liberty. I can’t think of a single reason to vote for him.
I’m simply warning the mainstream Republicans that they are losing the libertarian wing of the party and it may lead to an Obama victory in November. I have not ruled out voting for Obama. I have ruled out voting for McCain and so has almost every other libertarian leaning voter I’ve met.
I am a delegate to the local Republican convention, and I will support Ron Paul, but don’t kid yourself, he isn’t going to win the nomination. Mark my words… when the national convention comes to Saint Paul, the Republican elites won’t even let Ron Paul speak and I predict that Ron Paul signs won’t be allowed inside the event. Ron Paul supporters will be fenced in outdoors blocks away with all the other protesters in the ‘free speech cage.’
I can’t believe I’m saying this, I abhor socialism, but right now, Obama seems to be our best hope for a positive outcome in the ‘08 presidential race. Let’s hope it leads to open minds and better ideas in 2012.
Thanks for reading,
Every time I try to wash my hands of politics, it just gets more interesting.
Don’t forget to subscribe to this feed. I’ve got some fun surprises in store.
It is armchair endtimes fanatics like you that cost American lives by pushing for more and more war in the first place.
Well said.
“You could send 10 addicts to rehab for the price of sending one of them to jail.”
______________________________________________________
Perhaps. But if I can sell (and especially market) marijuana, then the demand coould increase by ten-fold (or more). That’s the great unknown, namely how much will it’s use (both in terms of “number of individuals” and “quantity consumed”) increase. Furthermore, what are the short-term and long-term health costs?
Now, if the people who abused it had to suffer the consequences of their own bad decision-making without a big tax-payer funded safety-net, then I could live with it. Of course, it would be difficult to morally resist helping the children of parents who abused it excessively.
Don’t get me wrong. I have some libertarian leanings on this issue too. I’d be willing to let the Fed step back from the issue, but I’d never vote to legalize it in my home state. I just know that I’d be writing the check for doctor/hospital visits for too many abusers.
Just off the top of my head I can count at least 9 times American interests overseas have been attacked since 911.
2002
June 14, Karachi, Pakistan: bomb exploded outside American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12. Linked to al-Qaeda.
2003
May 12, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners. Al-Qaeda suspected.
2004
May 29–31, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, take foreign oil workers hostage in a nearby residential compound, leaving 22 people dead including one American.
June 11–19, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists kidnap and execute Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2 other Americans and BBC cameraman killed by gun attacks.
Dec. 6, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: terrorists storm the U.S. consulate, killing 5 consulate employees. 4 terrorists were killed by Saudi security.
2005
Nov. 9, Amman, Jordan: Suicide bombers hit 3 American hotels, Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, killing 57. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.
2006
Sept. 13, Damascus, Syria: an attack by four gunman on the American embassy was foiled.
2007
Jan. 12, Athens, Greece: the U.S. embassy was fired on by an anti-tank missile causing damage but no injuries.
“He believes the 2nd amendment guarantees the individual the right to own firearms
I believe this author better wake up fast.”
You need a wakeup if you think McCain is pro-2A. McCain-Feingold was all about destroying the power of the pro-gun lobby. Perhaps you should read what the GOA says about him:
http://www.gunowners.org/mccaintb.htm
Did anything in my post suggest that I think McCain is pro-2A?
You don't stay and fight these scumbags for 100 years, like McNut is proposing. That's exactly what they want us to do, is to stay there and bleed to death, just like they did with the Soviets. These terrorists should have been carpet-bombed on 9/12 IMO, and the borders should have been shut down immediately.
We are winning, and we are safer because of it. If Saddam were still in power, al-Qaeda would be vastly more powerful and influential in the region, our ally Israel would be in even greater peril; and Saddam would by now have achieved success in the weapons program liberals now deny ever existed, but about which thousands of pages of declassified intelligence documents say otherwise. And no matter what that idiot McCain says, we will not be there for another "100 years".
the pro’s and cons list a laughable, what is this tripe?
I stand corrected!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.