entering the USA illegally is a federal crime Let The Trail Of Tears II begin!!!
On May 4, 4:28 pm, "M. Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote: > Immigration, Civil Liberties, and the Drug WarbySheldon Richman, May 4, 2010 > Arizona’s horrid law empowering cops to demand that people show their > “papers” when suspected of being in the country without government permission > holds an important lesson for both so-called progressives and conservatives. > It’s a lesson about a seemingly separate issue: drugs. > Concern about illegal immigrants along the Mexican border would undoubtedly > diminish if the “war on drugs” ended. (It’s not really a war on drugs; it’s a > war on manufacturers, merchants, and consumers of certain drugs.) Drug > prohibition in Mexico and the United States has not made the drug trade > disappear. It merely turned the trade over to violent gangs. That is how > prohibition always works. By definition, black markets are illegal, which > means people with grievances can’t sue or call the police. They take > “justice” into their own hands. The ensuing violence inevitably injures and > kills innocent bystanders. If the violence is perpetrated by Mexicans and > spills over the border, or if it drives villagers to seek safety in United > States, the affected American communities will be tempted to blame > foreigners, particularly illegal aliens. > Ending prohibition would bring the drug trade into normal commerce and under > the control of social mores similar to those that govern alcohol. Just as we > don’t have turf wars and other violence surrounding the liquor and tobacco > industries, we would not see it in a legal drug industry. > That in itself would defuse much of the animosity toward Hispanic immigrants. > Moreover, ending the black market would shrink drug profits, which are now > used to buy sophisticated weapons for drug gangs. > Now let’s tie the drug issue back to progressives and conservatives. > Progressives portray themselves as sympathetic to immigrants, legal or > otherwise, although there is a group that thinks the competition with > American workers is unfair. Progressives also regard themselves as civil > libertarians and therefore are not happy with the Arizona authoritarian law. > (Aside: If they are upset with that law, why do most progressives give Barack > Obama a pass on his Cheneyesque policies regarding enemy combatants, > indefinite detention, and assassination?) > But if progressives are so concerned about civil liberties, why are they not > attacking the war on drugs? Not only does prohibition violate the civil > liberties (not to mention property rights) of every legal resident; it also > foments hostility to and suspicion of illegals. That hostility in turn leads > to policies that erode everyone’s civil liberties. It’s not only immigrants > who will have to carry papers in Arizona. Anyone likely to be questioned > (read: anyone with brown skin) will have to carry an ID if he wants to ensure > he will not be detained. > What about conservatives? Years ago they might have been counted on to > protest an ID requirement. Now they seem to have no problem with a state > requirement that one produce papers on demand. Rush Limbaugh says that > Democrats oppose the Arizona law because having to show an ID will make it > hard for them to stuff the ballot box with illegal votes. Are we to infer > that Limbaugh (who speaks for many conservatives) therefore favors empowering > the police to demand an ID on the mere suspicion that someone is in America > without government permission? > That’s not the only problem for conservatives. They repeatedly raise alarms > about the threat to gun owners, but they stubbornly refuse to see the > connection between the war on guns and the war on drugs. As noted, the black > market spawns well-armed drug gangs. Police have complained that they are > outgunned by these gangs. This in turn has fueled the anti-gun movement. > Indeed, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that one way to combat the > Mexican drug violence is to crack down on the flow of guns from the United > States into Mexico. We know what such a policy would mean. > Progressives and conservatives, wake up! The war on drugs undermines civil > liberties and the rights of peaceful gun owners, not to mention the freedom > of Hispanics to move freely. If you mean it when you say you care about > freedom, you will demand a halt to drug prohibition. Your own proclaimed > values are at stake.http://www.fff.org/comment/com1005b.asp > > > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help seehttp://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community athttp://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
