one hundred mondays

I had intended my 100th post to be something special ...
I even deleted a fawning tribute to Yahoo's girl in the cowboy hat as maybe not
dignified enough for the occasion. I do have an enormous crush on the lady ... don't tell my Sweetie.

But then I found this excellent summary of the drug war, libertarianism and how modern-day liberalism (as opposed to classical liberalism) has let us down with its inordinate trust in the state. This seems like an appropriate theme for our 100th Montag together ... especially since three days of flu have left my brain foggy enough that I gladly relinquish control of the conversation to a more cogent mind than mine.

Writer Ryan Grim writes:

"I've always believed that we live in a fundamentally liberal society that can trace its way back to enlightenment thinkers like Jefferson, Madison, Locke, Mill and Rousseau. Sure, the past 24 years of the Reagan, Bush and even Clinton regimes haven't been kind, but one bedrock principle still seemed intact: If not equality and fraternity, we'll always have liberty.

"And so, as guards frogmarched my friend out of the courtroom shackled hands to feet, I wondered how confining that man for 17 years jives with my understanding of our nation's values. Is imprisoning hundreds of thousands of people an acceptable policy result of a liberal, pluralistic democratic society? Or, is the drug war proving libertarians correct about the potential for abuse of government power?

Of course we are, Ryan, as you have come to realize:

"Eric Sterling, a Reagan-era-drug-warrior-turned-reformer who now heads up the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, refers to what he calls the 'drug war exception to the Bill of Rights.' Unlawful searches and seizures are not permitted - unless cops are searching for drugs, which are not legal property and therefore not protected. No self-incrimination - unless it's a drug test. No cruel and unusual punishment - unless you were caught with cocaine. And so our two greatest bulwarks against tyranny, checks and balances and the Bill of Rights, are out the drug war window."

This is good reading, a nice summary of why libertarians are neither liberals nor conservatives as those terms are currently used, from someone who's obviously second-guessing himself about his liberalism. Keep thinking, Ryan!