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Why am I not surprised that the war on drugs suddenly entered the equation? Minus a few points on credibility with that one. While we can argue all day about the divine right to blow out brain cells with the chemical of our choice, does anyone really want to see the traffic wrecks caused by widespread recreational crack use? No? Well then it's back to the old "restrict drugs until we fix the court system" or "legalize drugs and who cares if innocents die; they're stupid" type arguments. I've yet to hear a rational libertarian answer for the societal chaos that widespread recreational substance use would cause.

I'm not in favor of recreational drug use, but am alarmed that the War on Drugs is being used to justify alot of shenanigans that Americans would not have otherwise put up with, like those infamous "no-knock" raids that seem to get the wrong house, putting innocent people in danger, or worse, killing them.

My point was that we have to be careful about seeing every War on (insert your most hated thingy here) as an answer to our problems, and individual rights to be secure in our persons and papers be damned.

This isn't about the "divine right to blow out brain cells," as you so eloquently put it. It's about our right as citizens to decide how much search and seizure we're willing to put up with in exchange for some illusion of security.

The expanded police powers to search for drugs has not stopped people from getting drugs, and the expanded police powers to search for terrorists will not stop terrorists from doing what they are determined to do. I used the WOD as an example because it is but the most illustrative of how giving the government more power is not the answer to the problem of illegal activity.