On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 03:20:17AM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
(That idiocy is finally crumbling. One of the satisfactions of a long life is watching it happen.)
for cannabis, it is. in some states. but there's still cocaine and amphetamines and heroin and ecstacy and lsd and others to provide a plentiful supply of slave labor in privatised prisons. there's just far too much money in the war on drugs for it ever to be allowed to end. there's drug sales, and corruption/bribes for politicians and officials, and civil forfeiture for the cops to get their snouts in the trough, and prison labor and lots more.
FWIW, the term 'liberatarian' is outside the power structure in the USA, even in the loonier parts.
sort of. except for the fact that libertarianism is an ideology pushed by corporations and the mega-rich because it suits their interests for the vast bulk of the cretinous and credulous populace to believe that they'll be better off if they bend over to be fucked by corporations in the name of "Liberty" they've spent many billions on propaganda over the decades, directly in advertising and indirectly in TV and movie programming, to promote the idea that government is the source of all evil, that any kind of regulation is bad because regulations are socialism and socialism is baby-eating satanism, and that liberty means letting the rich do whatever they want without limit or consequence...and finally to dangle the absurdist fantasy that ordinary folks can aspire to be one of the rich and powerful. most of the world is horrified by what the rich and powerful get away with...while many americans support whatever they do because they fantasize that one day it could be them. so, yes, libertarianism is outside of the power structure. it's just one of their tools. it suits them for useful idiots to believe that neo-feudalism equals liberty. this would be surreally hilarious if it weren't true. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>