The Groom's Father's Argument

Earlier today I was listening to the August 27th Best of the Left podcast, which was devoted to the issue of drug legalization as a viable public policy. I always find this topic fascinating, because it's actually comprised of many different but related issues. What illicit drugs, if any, should be legalized? What effect will legalization have on drug consumption? On drug violence? How much money could be saved if we stopped prosecuting The Drug War? Would we see significant revenue if we taxed these drugs? Is a certain amount of drug use in society acceptable and - if so - shouldn't the quality of these newly legalized drugs be regulated? How? What would happen if we decriminalized these drugs but placed people caught with drugs in treatment centers? etc., etc., etc.

But as intriguing as I find this entire topic, I never can get myself too invested in it because for all intents and purposes the issue is moot. I cannot for the life of me see how at any time in the foreseeable future the United States would ever be willing to change the scorched earth policy we've followed for the past few decades in our stupid, stupid War on Drugs.

There are a lot of reasons for this. We've got the social conservatives, of course, for whom any use of drugs now considered illegal is evil. Even for those Americans who don't think drugs are necessarily and always evil, we've got generations who have been brainwashed by decades of After School Specials and the Hallmark and Lifetime Channels' made-for-teevee movies that tell us that even an occasional joint can inevitably lead one's children into a lifelong smack habit that has them turning tricks in alleys to get their next fix. Hell, we've even got an economic lobby interested in keeping drug use illegal, thanks to our wonderfully short-sighted decision to privatize our prisons such that companies get rich the more people they can convince us should be locked up.

But - by far - the single greatest reason America can't possibly call a ceasefire in its War on Drugs is what I call "The Groom's Father's Argument."

First Thoughts on Bin Laden's Death

UPDATED BELOW


I just logged in a few minutes ago to look something up on Wikipedia, and was shocked to see the news that U.S. forces shot and killed Osama bin Laden earlier today. So, of course, I went to a few news sites and watched President Obama's speech.

Of course, it is way too soon to know much about what happened and hopefully more details will be coming shortly. But like everyone else who pays attention to and writes about news events, I figured I'd jot down -- in no particular order -- my initial impressions and thoughts after watching Obama's speech.

(1) Isn't it nice to have a competent administration again? Isn't it nice to feel that the United States government actually can accomplish something? Since we let bin Laden get away at Tora Bora, and then decided to devote most of our military might to invading and occupying Iraq, I have had a real sense that the United States government just didn't seem capable of focusing on a goal and achieving that goal; still, you would think capturing or killing the mastermind of the largest terrorist attack on U.S. soil would be an important enough goal that we could get past our national ADD for at least a little while. The fact the government was able to finally accomplish this goal now, following hard on the heels of the federal government's speedy and effective response to the tornados that just ravaged Alabama and a lot of the Southeast (in stark contrast to the government's ineffectiveness after Katrina), just makes me feel warm inside, like proof that if we just make sure to give the levers of power to intelligent, competent people then that power actually can be used competently and intelligently.