I’ve already confessed to man-crushes on Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, and (or course) the Gipper, but it’s time for me to cross partisan and racial boundaries and announce my man-crush on Cory Booker.
From the Huffington Post, here’s what the Newark Mayor had to say about the failed War on Drugs.
Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker took to Reddit Sunday to criticize the war on drugs, saying it was ineffective and “represents big overgrown government at its worst.” “The so-called War on Drugs has not succeeded in making significant reductions in drug use, drug arrests or violence,” the Democrat wrote during the Reddit “ask me anything” chat. “We are pouring huge amounts of our public resources into this current effort that are bleeding our public treasury and unnecessarily undermining human potential.” Booker then called drug arrests a “game.” “My police in Newark are involved in an almost ridiculous game of arresting the same people over and over again and when you talk to these men they have little belief that there is help or hope for them to break out of this cycle,” he wrote.
At the risk of stating the obvious, this doesn’t mean that anyone should use drugs. I’ve led a very boring life, for instance, and have never tried any illegal drugs.
But Mayor Booker is right. Like Ron Paul, Pat Robertson, Richard Branson, and Gary Johnson, he’s figured out that the Drug War is mostly a vehicle to expand the size and power of government. It’s why we have fascist asset forfeiture laws and costly money laundering laws.
Oh, and by the way, the Drug War has totally failed in stopping illegal drug use. Though it has enriched organized crime, so big government isn’t the only beneficiary.
To learn more about the failed War on Drugs, I’d recommend this video and this video. But mostly, I suggest you read these two horrific stories.
P.S. As you can see from this post, there actually are political jokes about money laundering laws. I haven’t run across any about the Drug War, but I’ll be sure to post them if they show up in my inbox.
P.P.S. Here’s a very funny video featuring Cory Booker and Chris Christie. Kudos to both of them for having senses of humor.
[…] I explain to people how the government’s War on Drugs violates the rights of people to do dumb things to their own bodies, they intellectually understand but they’re usually not […]
[…] such as John Stossel and Gary Johnson but also traditional skeptics such as Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, Mona Charen, John McCain, and Richard […]
[…] such as John Stossel and Gary Johnson, but also traditional skeptics such as Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, Mona Charen, John McCain, and Richard […]
[…] I explain to people how the government’s War on Drugs violates the rights of people to do dumb things to their own bodies, they intellectually understand but they’re usually not […]
[…] I explain to people how the government’s War on Drugs violates the rights of people to do dumb things to their own bodies, they intellectually understand but they’re usually not […]
[…] I explain to people how the government’s War on Drugs violates the rights of people to do dumb things to their own bodies, they intellectually understand but they’re usually not […]
[…] worth noting that voices as diverse as John Stossel, Mona Charen, Gary Johnson, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, John McCain, and Richard Branson all agree that it’s time to rethink marijuana […]
[…] have the same attitude about the War on Drugs. Yes, I get upset that people are mistreated and it irks me as a libertarian that people aren’t free to make their own choices (even if they are dumb choices) about what to […]
[…] have the same attitude about the War on Drugs. Yes, I get upset that people are mistreated and it irks me as a libertarian that people aren’t free to make their own choices (even if they are dumb choices) about what […]
[…] reform. Folks such as John Stossel, Gary Johnson, John McCain, Mona Charen, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, Rick Perry, and Richard […]
The war on drugs is as much a failure as the war on poverty. In the U.S., some politicians have admitted to using illegal drugs at some point. What perplexes me is the hypocrisy of how they admit to their use and yet want to deny us the right to use them.
[…] favor reform. Folks such as John Stossel, Gary Johnson, John McCain, Mona Charen, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, Rick Perry, and Richard […]
[…] rather side with folks such as John Stossel, Gary Johnson, John McCain, Mona Charen, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, Rick Perry, and Richard […]
[…] of people – such as John Stossel, Gary Johnson, John McCain, Mona Charen, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard Branson – who are recognizing that it’s foolish to give government massive […]
[…] of people – such as John Stossel, Gary Johnson, John McCain, Mona Charen, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard Branson – who are recognizing that it’s foolish to give government massive […]
[…] of those who want to end prohibition. But you also find John McCain, Mona Charen, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard […]
[…] you to read the thoughts of John McCain, John Stossel, Mona Charen, Gary Johnson, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard […]
[…] do John Stossel, Mona Charen, Gary Johnson, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard Branson all have in […]
[…] John Stossel, Mona Charen, Gary Johnson, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard Branson, I’m skeptical of the drug […]
[…] John Stossel, Mona Charen, Gary Johnson, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard Branson, I’m skeptical of the drug […]
[…] opinions on the Drug War from folks such as John Stossel, Mona Charen, Gary Johnson, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard […]
[…] do Mona Charen, Ron Paul, Cory Booker, Pat Robertson, Gov. Gary Johnson, and Sir Richard Branson all have in […]
In order to make legalization work in the way you think it would, you would first have to derail significant portions of both the social safety net and the existing FDA regulatory structure. Good luck with that. I’d say both very definitely need to happen, but achieving all three – deregulating the FDA, unraveling most of the social safety net and full on drug legalization are not likely to be super achievable in the near future.
Or the Libertarians in New Jersey. 🙂 I got all flushed and wished him closer
You know a few years ago I went to a rally for DC school vouchers where it was almost all African American students and parents protesting Obama and Durbin, two of our most heinous tax predators, snatching vouchers from poor DC students even as Obama sends his two princesses to the ruling class Sidwell Friends school at $39,000 a pop. And Marion Barry was there on the stage, supporting school vouchers! So until Marion started racist, proto-fascist attacks on Asians in DC, I had a hands off Barry policy, because the man MUST favor legalizing drugs and prostitution, and he doesn’t pay his income taxes, and now he is for school choice. I was ready for the Libertarians to run him for Mayor. (I am, by the way, the 2012 Libertarian candidate for Congress in DC, running against 11 term incumbent Eleanor Norton).
But Cory is actually hot (yes, I am a gay candidate). I could get a man crush and it would be for real Dan, not a bromance. And he is a super man who saves people from burning buildings. And he keeps going off the Democrat’s plantation. The Libertarians in Pennsylvania should be running him for something, if he would have them.
Why on earth is “Parental abuse and foster care” at all relevant?
I’m sure Dan Mitchell (or anyone else) wouldn’t argue that parents should be free to shoot up while their kids are neglected. Child neglect is a separate issue.
You really can’t be serious about legalization. Sure the war hasn’t gone well, but what is your alternative? By the way, drug use is not a victimless crime. See Scott Cunningham’s “Parental Substance Abuse and Foster Care: Evidence from Two Methamphetamine Supply Shocks,” Economic Inquiry, (January 2012).
So what is the solution?