Taliban Depends on War on Drugs

To beat insurgents, you must cut off the source of their supplies. The American Plains Indians were finished when the American buffalo was hunted close to extinction. Indians depended on buffaloes for food and used their hides for clothing, shelter and their fur for trade. ISIS collapsed when the US bombed their oil trucks and oil fields.

The War on Drugs is the reason we have so many endless guerrilla wars in the works, as well as rogue countries, failed states and violent, heavily armed drug gangs. Selling illegal drugs makes it easy to finance an army. The Taliban runs on opium poppy sales. Opium and heroine prices are higher due to the War on Drugs.  The FARC in Columbia and Shining Path in Peru are cocaine funded insurgents. Cuba, Nicaragua and North Korea all earn a lot of foreign exchange from illegal drug sales. Drug cartels in Mexico and other parts of Latin America are beter armed than the police.

I think it's time to end the War on Drugs. It's the second coming of Prohibition, only much worse. Prohibition, and the violence and corruption that came with it, was limited to the US. The War on Drugs is a worldwide disaster. Frankly, the costs aren't worth the benefits. It would be easier to deal with user rehab programs than multiple crime waves and insurgencies all over the world. We need to legalize drugs and tax them heavily. We can start with marijuana to see how it works out. As I see it, it's a national security issue.

Have We Made Progress on Race or Not?

Conservatives are judging President Obama by the content of his character. Liberals are judging President Obama by the color of his skin. So who is closer to MLK's ideal? The reason liberals see racism under every bed and behind every tree is that they need minorities to vote their identity. If you vote your identity, then the results your government actually produces are irrelevant.

I grew up in Montana in the late 50's and early 60's. I spent my summers on a ranch on the Flathead Indian Reservation near St. Ignatius, Montana. The Flathead Indians were not very well off. Some Indians were hunting just to get enough to eat. They would literally shoot fish with a .22 because it was legal for them and easier than hooks and bait. My family was unpopular locally with other ranch owners because we paid "white wages" to Indians working on our ranch.

There is a BIG difference today. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes run several profitable businesses including timber operations and an electronics factory as well as a luxury hotel and casino. They have established Salish and Kootenai College, which grants both 2 year and 4 year degrees. They even have a permitting process for tourists using their land for camping. (When I visited, I found out that Lower Mission Falls, where my family used to picnic, was tribal land and I needed a permit.) The point is that they have made immense progress through their own hard work. To pretend that everything is still the same is to demean their accomplishments.

In the larger picture, liberals pretending that racism is still rampant throughout the US demean the accomplishments of countless individuals who started with nothing and improved themselves and their families against the odds with hard work and study. It's just wrong, and worse, it's a cynical lie told merely to further leftist political fortunes because liberal governments have no accomplishments they can point to.