no third solution

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Category Archives: World Politics

The War on Drugs Enables Terrorism

November 5th, 2008

My friend Zach left a great comment on Michigan Proposal 1:

What is morally wrong about marijuana? I can list a couple of far stretched morality issues , i.e. Some terrorists organizations receive money through the drug trade, etc.

I thought he was lost, but he redeemed himself with the following:

But other than these, which can be easily avoided by making it legal and/or legal to grow your own just like you do potatoes, corn, wheat, etc…

I remember when he was finishing up his undergrad degree and I proofed a term paper he wrote, absolutely slamming Sarbanes-Oxley and other similar legislation. I’m impressed that people I know are starting to grasp the idea that government interference, prohibition, regulations, etc., are the primary cause of most of what people perceive to be problems in society.

At the same time, and I mean this is the most constructive manner possible, he didn’t quite reach the “A+” conclusion. Although he’s 100% correct that ending prohibition would eliminate the lucrative profits to be had in the drug trade, thereby also eliminating gang warfare, eliminating an (allegedly) important funding source for terrorists, etc., he failed to make a very important distinction.

Allow me to present an analogy: the Mafia in Detroit used to use car washes as a front to launder money; that doesn’t make going to a car wash immoral or wrong, does it?

So with that in mind, simply because terrorists profit from the restricted supply (and quasi-monopolistic profit accruing thereto) of certain controlled substances, we cannot reasonably conclude that the cultivation, trafficking, consumption and/or trading of these substances is malum in se.

And this is the ultimate distinction: the problem isn’t the drug, the problem is terrorism. Terrorism is always wrong.

And one more thing: the terrorists are winning the war on drugs.

+++

Just so nobody says “David Z made a huge error, he neglected to say that the war on drugs is domestic terrorism,” I’ll say it: the war on drugs is domestic terrorism.

But that’s a topic for another day.

Socialism: Here, There, Everywhere (Part 2)

October 30th, 2008

Germany is not alone in the rush to embrace socialism. France does too.

This should come as no suprise to anyone, from a country with stifling labor legislation, quasi-legal segregation, high unemployment rates (even higher among minorities). As I’ve blogged previously, France’s right to work laws are a joke:

With an unemployment rate as high as it is (50% for some demographics), it doesn’t seem that France’s current system has done a very good job protecting [the “right” to work”]. I can’t imagine a situation where it could possibly be more difficult to find employment than one in which persists a staggering 23% unemployment.

Richard Ebeling notes that the French, being Franchmen, however, will take a more cowardly route than Germany’s unabashed and public adoration for all things socialist. The French, Ebeling tells us, plan to introduce more socialism, but call it capitalism.

French and German governments are calling for the new international financial order to set a cap on corporate executive pay, worldwide. They want tax havens like Switzerland to be put on a blacklist and penalized through regulatory and fiscal methods for providing Europeans a place to guard their hard earned income from the grasping hand of their respective governments.

Some people are already saying that the U.S. is now more French than France.

For some reason, I can see the demagogues here latching on to that sort of populist mentality: let’s go after the “tax havens”. Then, Papa Government can tax people who don’t even live here, or people who plan to move away will be required to pay a penalty tax. Oh, wait: THEY ALREADY DO THIS.

Nobody ever presumes that our own government should instead lower the taxes levied on our own compatriots.

Instead, they all advocate a Mutually Assured Destruction situation, where all countries compete and conspire to keep taxes high, and above all, to prevent people from being free.

Socialism: Here, There, Everywhere

October 29th, 2008

When free markets fail (allegedly), all anyone ever wants is socialism, which is really funny, because when socialism fails, as it has everywhere it’s ever been tried, all anyone ever wants is even more socialism. There has got to be a name for this mental deficiency.

Anyways, while the U.S. is grappling over which form of socialism to embrace for the next four years (N.B., they’re all socialists), before some other pariahmessiah can promise change, Europeans are increasingly embracing the doctrine that won’t die.

According to the Financial Times, a majority of Germans are now in favor of nationalization:

The overwhelming majority of Germans would welcome the nationalisation of large segments of the economy, including its energy, transport and financial infrastructure, according to a new opinion poll that underlines the strength of popular opposition to free-market liberalism in Europe’s largest economy.

Look, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but… that didn’t work out too well for them last time, did it?

And, you know, not to point out the obvious, but… it’s not working out so well here, either. Really, is it?

no third solution

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