As most conservative Republicans should be aware, their hero Ronald Reagan was a GREAT admirer of Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman, Ph.D. (as the president expounded his praise, note key-phrase in video, “FREE TO CHOOSE”). As a champion for liberty and the freedom to choose, the late Dr. Friedman was an outspoken critic of drug prohibition. He even went so far as to say that “The role of the government is to protect the drug cartels.” He was unequivocalbly correct. The history of the CIA and other federal agencies working hand in hand with them is well documented
“Every friend of freedom … must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the U.S. into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence.”
Tragically, President Reagan and his advisers were too obtuse to grasp the full extent of wisdom and foresight of that exceedingly brilliant scholar.
And then there was the distinguished pundit William F. Buckley, Jr. who has long been regarded as one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th Century and is considered the founding father of modern conservative political thought. He founded the National Review magazine which, in their words, is the “keeper of the conservative tablets to analyze public problems and to recommend intelligent thought.” Put simply, Mr. Buckley wasn't merely a conservative standard-bearer -- he SET THE STANDARD. In this piece, The War on Drugs Is Lost, he laid it all out on the line.
And then there was the distinguished pundit William F. Buckley, Jr. who has long been regarded as one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th Century and is considered the founding father of modern conservative political thought. He founded the National Review magazine which, in their words, is the “keeper of the conservative tablets to analyze public problems and to recommend intelligent thought.” Put simply, Mr. Buckley wasn't merely a conservative standard-bearer -- he SET THE STANDARD. In this piece, The War on Drugs Is Lost, he laid it all out on the line.
Another well-respected conservative commentator, opinion-writer, and former employee of Mr. Buckley, George F. Will (who, by the way, had a close and friendly relationship with Ronald Reagan before and during his presidency), made his position known when he answered the questions; Would drug legalization do more harm than good? and Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs?
The popular conservative syndicated columnist, the late Charley Reese, a perennial favorite of this writer, was another voice of reason and conscience amidst the dearth of common sense. He hammered his point home in these pieces entitled Drug-War Hogwash and Too Many in Jail.
And then there is the dramatic conversion of the ultra-conservative former congressman, the Honorable Bob Barr (R-GA), to consider. He was such an ardent proponent of the War On Drugs that he personally led the crusade to nullify the people's vote for medical marijuana in 1996 in our nation's capital after the measure passed by a landslide. It was known as the Barr Amendment.
Think about it a moment: literally BARR-ING THE PEOPLE'S VOTE FROM BEING COUNTED AFTER A LAWFUL ELECTION because the federal government didn't like the result. Nothing can more UN-AMERICAN than THAT now can it?! That is EXACTLY what would be expected in a fascist dictatorship or Islamic theocracy -- NEVER in the land that purports to be the World's #1 Champion for Freedom and Democracy, right? At least not before then!
Of course, there may be some instances of Negro votes in the Deep South having been suppressed that are not too widely known. Actually, come to think of it, most of the voters in the District of Columbia are black and Bob Barr was a white man from a former Confederate state. However. in these modern times. it is more likely than not his motive was more about “sending the right message to young people about drugs” than denying blacks of the right that their votes be counted. In fact, it's PRECISELY the type of scenario that the Father of Our Country warned the American people about for posterity when he said that; “cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men (would) be enabled to subvert the Power of the People.”
Think about it a moment: literally BARR-ING THE PEOPLE'S VOTE FROM BEING COUNTED AFTER A LAWFUL ELECTION because the federal government didn't like the result. Nothing can more UN-AMERICAN than THAT now can it?! That is EXACTLY what would be expected in a fascist dictatorship or Islamic theocracy -- NEVER in the land that purports to be the World's #1 Champion for Freedom and Democracy, right? At least not before then!
Of course, there may be some instances of Negro votes in the Deep South having been suppressed that are not too widely known. Actually, come to think of it, most of the voters in the District of Columbia are black and Bob Barr was a white man from a former Confederate state. However. in these modern times. it is more likely than not his motive was more about “sending the right message to young people about drugs” than denying blacks of the right that their votes be counted. In fact, it's PRECISELY the type of scenario that the Father of Our Country warned the American people about for posterity when he said that; “cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men (would) be enabled to subvert the Power of the People.”
Honorable Bob eventually saw the error of his ways after his shenanigans apparently caught up with him a few years later and cost him his seat in Congress. Doing the HONORABLE thing, he went to work as a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project and was successful in righting his wrong after it had been on the books for 10 years. Taking it to another level, he went on to become the Libertarian candidate for U.S. President in 2008. Never in a billion years would this writer have ever imagined that the man he once considered America's #1 Enemy of Freedom and republicanism would end up getting his vote for President of the United States! He remains to this day a staunch advocate for drug policy reform -- marijuana in particular.
No discussion of high-profile conservative Republicans who went on to run for president as Libertarians would be complete without mention of the Honorable Gary Johnson of New Mexico. Governor Johnson made national headlines when he became the first sitting, high-level government official to come out against drug prohibition. Despite the fact that many public figures criticized his questioning the drug war, he said that, in private, practically all those in high positions of government --not to mention the general public-- agreed with him but were stymied to come out and say so for fear of being labeled “soft on drugs.”
If only more Republicans were of the mindset as those cited above as well as this perennial critic of U.S. drug policy, the GOP might have more credibility and popularity.
If only more Republicans were of the mindset as those cited above as well as this perennial critic of U.S. drug policy, the GOP might have more credibility and popularity.
One way to look at it is like this; the government has painted itself into a corner so deeply and, since no one seems to be able to figure a way out, all they think to do is keep laying down fresh coats of paint year-after-year, appropriations bill-after-appropriations bill... ad infinitum-- consider this:
HOW ABOUT LETTING THE PAINT DRY SO WE CAN SIMPLY WALK OUT OF IT?! Maybe then we can start repairing the damages done to our once-sacred Bill of Rights and restore the public's trust and respect for law-enforcement.
For decades, Republicans have been harping about “getting government off our backs,” the importance of individual responsibility and states' rights but, when it comes to “drugs,” their answer is ALWAYS a mirror of the perennial, progressive-liberal Democrat modus operandi:
MORE GOVERNMENT and LESS FREEDOM because WASHINGTON-KNOWS-BEST!
The drug war has far exceeded the point where, as Florida's Chief Justice, Hon. Gerald Kogan, forewarned; LIBERTY FINALLY HAS FALLEN. Why mainstream conservatives and Republicans “just don't get it” after all these years --despite the wisdom of the prominent figures cited above-- is a confounding mystery indeed.
Okay, last time...
This is drugs
This is a Republican on the War On Drugs
Any questions?
hypocrisy |həˈpäkrəsē|
noun (pl. hypocrisies) the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
noun (pl. hypocrisies) the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
