I've been watching the Ken Burns series on PBS called "Prohibition." Anyone who doubts the economics of prohibition should watch this series. The parallels to our modern day War on Drugs is truly striking. I thought we were supposed to learn from history. Apparently not. At least Americans "sobered" up from alcohol prohibition in 14 years. Drug prohibition seems to have no end.
One thing I found especially haunting in the film was the ease with which the rumrunners and bootleggers bribed political and police officials. The modus operandi of these scofflaws was to pay off mayors, councilmen, police chiefs and Washington bureaucrats to look the other way on their criminal activities. Does anyone doubt that the huge amount of cash drug trafficking attracts has not found its way into the pockets of our city, state and federal politicians and law enforcement officers? It seems every month in my home area local cops are busted for dealing drugs.
Come on, people. Wiseup. Are you in total denial of the absolute horror precipitated by the drug war, or are you simply dead from the neck up? Watch Ken Burns' film and learn the truth.
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The anarchists who are protesting on Wall Street are pathetic. They are protesting crony capitalism, i.e., the fact that Washington politicians are in bed with Wall Street bankers and brokerage houses. Of course, what they believe is true. Anyone who believes otherwise is a fool. TARP, the trillion dollar stimulus, ObamaCare, and subsidies to "green" companies are sops to the rich and connected.
So why are the Wall Street protesters pathetic fools? Because, if they were smart, they would not be advocating a government crackdown on crony capitalism. In effect, this is petitioning the wolf to guard the hen house. If they were smart and serious, they would be supporting libertarian candidates and demanding that government stop intervening in the private economy. Allow businesses and corporations to thrive or die in the marketplace without government help.
Is this too hard a concept? No. Such a concept is simple. It is merely incompatible with the left's contradictory desire to have their cake and eat it too, i.e., their desire that government seize the property of some individuals and protect the property of others.
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President Obama has made a choice: he's chosen to be a demagog rather than a statesman. In short, he's chosen to trade in deceit instead of the truth. The jobs bill is the perfect example. He's blamed Republicans for keep the bill from a vote in the House while Democrats have kept the bill from a vote in the Senate. He's pandered to the public, representing his Jobs Act as the be all and end all solution to unemployment and our depressed economy. In fact, as I've shown in a previous post, the Jobs Act is much ado about nothing. It is a political ploy to divide and conquer the voting public. It will not work.
The problem is demagogs create unintended consequences because of the fear, suspicion, distrust and anger they engender in otherwise peaceful people. The President, either purposely or foolishly, is playing with fire.
2 comments:
Are drugs anymore addictive and damaging than alcohol. The illegal drug trade has cost thousands of lives in several countries, cost economies hundreds of millions of dollars and is growing instead of shrinking. Legalize it, control it and tax it would suppress the violence that drugs cause. That would overnight, wipe out the drug cartels, save lives and we could put our manpower and funds to a beneficial use.
The protesters on wall street keep up with their news on the Ipads while wearing their $150 dollar jeans that Wall Street provided their parents who provided to them.
skudrunner, there's a whole lot of common sense packed into your two paragraphs.
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