The War on Poverty and the War on Drugs

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Bastiat:

The War on Poverty and the War on Drugs

 

By Randall Holcombe

Tuesday, July 29th, 2014

 

As an apparently war-minded people, Americans (or at least, our American political leaders) have been comfortable framing parts of the domestic policy agenda as wars for decades. Two of the most prominent have been the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs.

 

Despite the similarity in their names, there is an important difference between the two. The War on Poverty is not a real war. The War on Drugs is.

 

The War on Poverty is not a real war because there is no enemy that we are attacking to fight poverty. Quite the opposite. The War on Poverty identifies poor people and them gives them stuff. Sometimes it is income. Other times it is food, or health care, or education.

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Obama Administration Spent Thousands On Strippers, Boxing Tickets In Failed Sting On Border Patrol Agent

 

The case against a border patrol agent gets dismissed after his lawyer claims multi-agency corruption task force entrapped his client

 

.posted on July 30, 2014, at 10:26 p.m.

John StantonBuzzFeed Staff

 

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration abandoned a corruption case against an Arizona border patrol agent after his attorney accused federal agents of entrapping his client, and spending federal dollars on strippers, plane tickets, and tickets to a Manny Pacquiao fight as part of their investigation.

 

A federal judge dismissed money-laundering and corruption charges against Customs and Border Protection agent Lauro Tobias Tuesday in response to dismissal motions from both the Department of Justice and Tobias’ attorney, which were filed within hours of each other July 25.

Tobias, a 10-year veteran of the CBP who also served in the Air Force for two decades, was arrested in March 2013

http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/obama-administration-spent-federal-money-on-strippers-fight

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The War on Drugs Is Not Like The War on Poverty

Mises Daily: Saturday, August 02, 2014 by Randall G. Holcombe

As an apparently war-minded people, Americans (or at least, our American political leaders) have been comfortable framing parts of the domestic policy agenda as wars for decades. Two of the most prominent have been the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs.

 

Despite the similarity in their names, there is an important difference between the two. The War on Poverty is not a real war. The War on Drugs is.

 

The War on Drugs is a real war. It’s name obscures the people who are the combatants. It is actually a war on the buyers and sellers of drugs. The police are arming themselves with military-style weapons and using military tactics to attack the enemy — drug buyers and sellers — and the members of the declared enemy are also taking up arms to defend themselves and their property, partly against the police, but also partly against other citizens. Obviously, the police will not protect the people with whom they are at war, or their property.

 

Indeed, with civil forfeiture laws, the police will not only seize the property they have declared war against, but all property associated with those they treat as enemy combatants.

 

For the most part, laws in the United States are written and enforced to protect minorities of any type, whether defined by race, gender, age, sexual preferences, or religion, but the one big exception to protection of minorities is that the War on Drugs has singled out people for persecution based on substances they choose to buy and sell.

http://mises.org/daily/6828/The-War-on-Drugs-Is-Not-Like-The-War-on-Poverty