Stop The Wars!

I am going to post a little early this week, as Saturday is another travel day for me, and I don't expect to feel much like writing after what I anticipate will be 17 hours getting home. Hopefully my life will return to its abnormal level by Monday.  

Yes, I want to stop the wars, but probably not the one that you are thinking of. I will deal with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in another time and another place. Likewise, the sentiment that I am espousing here is not a pacifist one, at least not as you probably understand the term. What I am talking about here is that I want to stop both The War on Drugs and The War on Poverty. 

Now I propose to do this in much the way that the current Democratic Congress would like to stop the current wars in the Middle East. I would like to declare defeat, bring the troops home, and stop spending the money. Wait a minute you say, that’s not the way that it works. Why not? After five years of fighting in Iraq without a final victory, we are ready to call it quits and get the hell out. 

Well we’ve been fighting the War on Poverty since the 60’s and the War on Drugs almost as long and not only have we not won either of these wars, we are probably doing worse today in these fights than when we started. Billions of dollars spent, countless lives wasted, thousands of pages of speeches given and laws passed in fighting the good fight, yet the implacable enemies of drugs and poverty plague our nation. 

Well I say let’s end those wars now and declare a moratorium on such pointless wars of compassion for our fellow man. Nothing fails so utterly or completely like the federal government trying to mandate correct behavior or lend a helping hand. The bureaucratic morass created by such interference is only exceeded by the complete and utter failure of the effort. I say that the only way to win these wars is not to fight them! 

If you really want to end poverty, then stop handing out free money and start handing out a double dose of opportunity and responsibility. Take the money that the government taxes us to pay for these failed efforts and give it back to the people who paid it. Let good old capitalism make use of such capital and opportunities will abound for all to increase their standard of living. Get rid of the mind-numbing amount of regulation preventing people from achieving the American dream and they will. The only ones that will be left in need are the ones too used to sucking at the government teat to help themselves. Take government out of the picture and let entrepreneurs create the jobs they always have. Eliminate government bureaucracy and dependency and substitute self reliance. 

If you really want to stop drug abuse, then make these drugs legal and tax the crap out of them. It may not solve the problem, but it would at least show some consistency from the government and it seems to be working for smoking after all. Even if it didn't convince everyone to get off of drugs, it could finance treatment for those too physically or psychologically addicted to mend their ways. And it would do so without asking everyone to pay for the bad habits of a few. 

Now I'm not sure that government is capable of carrying out this simple a program, but it has the merit of never having been tried (and having failed) before. Prohibiting a substance has never eliminated it from the marketplace, only reduced the control over its distribution and created a criminal network to fill the void in supply (see alcohol,Prohibition, and The Mob). 

I don’t want to seem cruel here people, and I don’t really think that I do. The truth of the matter is that I think that I believe in people more than my government does. I believe that there are times when people need a helping hand, but not that they need to be carried like a child. I believe that given choices and opportunities to act responsibly, that people will do so. If they don't or can't, they need to be prepared to pay for the privilege of acting irresponsibly. 

I believe that our government is doing what it can to keep us ignorant and dependent, conditions which make us easier to control. I believe that the nanny state is keeping us from achieving our potential and human beings and Americans. Let me leave you with the words of President Ronald Reagan, " The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'."