A forlorn political hope

[nancylebov]

Have the Tea Partiers said anything about the War on Drugs? It seems as though they should be against it-- it's a presumptuous invasion of personal freedom, and it's hideously expensive.

Ghu knows, I'd rather not be looking to them for hope, but there's no promising large scale political opposition to the War on Drugs (just some moderate progress on medical marijuana). Libertarians aren't great at organizing, and as nearly as I can tell [1], any other opposition is the very occasional judge or prosecutor who's gotten disgusted with the ineffectiveness, cruelty, and corruption of the WoD.

In America, it's typical for third parties to never win, but to have some of their ideas adopted by the two major parties.

[1]In other words, let me know if I'm missing something-- the last time I asked (on usenet, so it was a while ago) about opposition to the WoD from the left, I was given a bunch of names, but they were all comedians. There were no politicians.

Comments

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

I say this as someone who's political views are pretty much libertarian:

That party has all the understanding of political strategy and mass appeal of GRAVEL.

All most Libertarians seem to accomplish around here (I live in NH) is to piss people off. They come across as cranky misanthropes who don't know how to get along with people.

(Yeah, I'm a libertarian and have a column with the word Misanthrope in the title. I can't imagine I'm much help, either).

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

They come across as cranky misanthropes who don't know how to get along with people.

And -- speaking as someone who also lives in NH -- coming across that way up here demands truly amazing levels of cranky misanthropy. Ordinary crackpots and grouchy curmudgeons don't even register on the local radar.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Haven't noticed anything on the Drug War at the Tea Parties I've been to. They've been much more "Stop spending so damn much money!" than the beginnings of a new ideology. That said, the Gadsden Flag contingent is probably sympathetic to minimizing police actions.

[avram]

In 2005, the House voted on the Hinchey Medical Marijuana Amendment, which would have kept Dep't of Justice funds from being used to prevent various states from implementing laws authorizing the use of medical marijuana. It failed, 264-161, but that link I just gave you has the vote breakdown, so you can look up the names of the 161 "aye" votes (145 of which were Democrats).

It's not ending the Drug War, but it's something.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Considering the severe racial discrimination involved with drug prohibition since the beginning, I severely doubt you'll see much support for legalization among the all-white teabagger movement...

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

There's a fairly large, party-independent, movement to outright legalize marijuana in the Western US, and it might get onto the ballot this year in California. That's an inroads. Of course, marijuana is de facto legalized in California now anyway, at least for the middle and upper classes--basically for anyone who can afford a doctor's appointment.

[sodyera.livejournal.com]

I've always said this country should have more than two parties. I'm willing to accept that there will be parties that I wouldn't attend if my life depended on it. Now it's time for a Radical Liberal party to balance the Teas. It would fight for marijuana legalisation, a single-payer healthcare system and a high-speed intercity rail system. And if elected...

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I used to hear a lot of people say they wanted a good social safety net plus individual liberty, but there wasn't any political home for them. Maybe it's time to work on a political movement.

[sodyera.livejournal.com]

Hey kids! Let's start a revolution!

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I haven't looked at it in depth, but there's a "Coffee Party Movement" going on over at FB in response to Teabaggers.

[sodyera.livejournal.com]

Too many bad memories from the "Coffees" of the Clinton years.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I think it's mostly tongue-in-cheek, as far as the name, but the idea seems to be to have a *real* liberal party, or a movement in that direction, since the Tea guys are talking about taking over the Republicans. Also, Avedon Carol has been talking about TL4O, "too liberal for Obama", which is another "take back the left" thing.

[sodyera.livejournal.com]

Now, that's a name with some snap to it!