Saturday, June 14, 2003
A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES
The United States is in the midst of a dangerous war to destroy an apocalyptic and transnational Islamist political movement that is bending most of its energies to engineer our destruction and to remove from power the outlaw regimes that sponsor the " Terror Masters ". As a result, deficits are rising, military resources are stretched to the brink and other programs are on the chopping block. At such a time can we really afford to continue as well, to the tune of ( at least) tens of billions, the war on drugs ? If this law enforcement program has been the moral equivalent of a war then that analagous war is Vietnam.
The results of the drug war have been a massive ( statistically speaking) demographic and economic disruption to our society, the ballooning of prison populations and the enrichment of foreign criminal syndicates to the point where narcotics traffickers can field armies to battle allied governments. Al Qaida drew funds from drug trafficking. North Korea funds its nuclear bomb program from drug trafficking. Drug trafficking yields untold billions in revenue primarily because it is illegal and these billions represent deadly armaments aimed at the heads of us all.
We are now engaged in a real war, not a political one, where if we falter for a moment, thousands of Americans could again die on a single day. Is this really all that difficult of a choice to make ? Pardon the nonviolent offenders who otherwise lack violent criminal records in a sensible, orderly way and put the vast sums and personnel devoted to the drug war toward securing our borders and killing terrorists. The drug war has eroded liberty, property, privacy and safety while expanding government power at home and destablizing friendly governments abroad. It was in every sense of the word a failure. Social pressure, taxation and medical treatment could achieve the same reductions in addicts at a fraction of the cost.
One would think this is an outcome conservatives would welcome.
¶ 6:23 PM
The United States is in the midst of a dangerous war to destroy an apocalyptic and transnational Islamist political movement that is bending most of its energies to engineer our destruction and to remove from power the outlaw regimes that sponsor the " Terror Masters ". As a result, deficits are rising, military resources are stretched to the brink and other programs are on the chopping block. At such a time can we really afford to continue as well, to the tune of ( at least) tens of billions, the war on drugs ? If this law enforcement program has been the moral equivalent of a war then that analagous war is Vietnam.
The results of the drug war have been a massive ( statistically speaking) demographic and economic disruption to our society, the ballooning of prison populations and the enrichment of foreign criminal syndicates to the point where narcotics traffickers can field armies to battle allied governments. Al Qaida drew funds from drug trafficking. North Korea funds its nuclear bomb program from drug trafficking. Drug trafficking yields untold billions in revenue primarily because it is illegal and these billions represent deadly armaments aimed at the heads of us all.
We are now engaged in a real war, not a political one, where if we falter for a moment, thousands of Americans could again die on a single day. Is this really all that difficult of a choice to make ? Pardon the nonviolent offenders who otherwise lack violent criminal records in a sensible, orderly way and put the vast sums and personnel devoted to the drug war toward securing our borders and killing terrorists. The drug war has eroded liberty, property, privacy and safety while expanding government power at home and destablizing friendly governments abroad. It was in every sense of the word a failure. Social pressure, taxation and medical treatment could achieve the same reductions in addicts at a fraction of the cost.
One would think this is an outcome conservatives would welcome.
¶ 6:23 PM
