From: starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Tim Starr)
Subject: Re: Carter and decrim (was: Re: Advertisement in the UK Times..)
Organization: UDel, School of Life & Health Sciences
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 07:36:08 GMT

In article <tmiller.712224206@camms1.caos.kun.nl> tmiller@camms2.caos.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller) writes:
}
}It was the middle of the seventies, Ford was president, after Nixon's Watergate,
}and doing about as good a job as Qualye would do today if Bush bit the dust.
}The Democrates finally won the election because the Republicans were such
}crooks nobody would vote for them.  Carter had made statements early in his
}political campaign about legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana.  Naturally
}in those days people like John Lennon where already saying the same thing.

Actually, Ford did quite a good job of cutting spending, including defense
spending - a much better job than Reagan.  But I digress.

}Carter was destroyed by economic problems and never had the luxury of
}getting to the really stupid laws.  On top of that NORML was advocating
}the legalization of every drug under the sun, not just marijuana like they
}do now.  The marijuana part was the part even Carter could agree with.

It's worth noting that the really stupid laws CAUSED those economic problems,
which anyone who knows much sound economics will agree with.

}Most states did decriminalize marijuana in the 1970's.  But Reagan returned
}us to the medieval thinking in 1980 in order to save the military complex
}at the expense of the federal deficit.   And all the things that people
}want to do today like saving the environment and improving the quality
}of their daily lives were part of the federal government.  Big business
}didn't like working for the good of the people, they want only to work for
}the good of themselves.  So they did everything they could to hurt the economy
}and get Carter out.   

Reagan's purpose was to win the Cold War, not primarily the maintenance of
the military-industrial complex.  Deficit spending has been a mainstay of
the U.S. Federal government since it was introduced by Roosevelt Minor, a
Democrat.  The Federal government was and is still ruining our environment
and our standard of living and the quality of our lives.  See the recent
Forbes cover story on how politics is ruining environmentalism if you have
any doubt.  Copious references available upon demand.  And while business
is unnecessarily and unjustifiably cartelized, what's good for business is
what's good for consumers - that's you and me, brother.  Anything else is
economic illiteracy.  Business didn't hurt the economy, the statists did.

}	Of course Bush was in the CIA at the time, Carter was cutting the 
}military establishment to pieces, how could Carter be stopped?  Many
}people speculate that the Republicans made a deal with the Iatolla Komeni
}to grab hostages and release them after the elections.  How could Republicans
}manage that?  Well, until Carter changed government policies Nixon's 
}administration was running the puppet government of the Shaw in Iran.  They
}still had things in place to pull of a mission such as what happened 
}at the Embassy.  And don't you know it, the hostages were released at 
}moment Reagan took his oath of office (what a coincidence).

Oh, yes.  Carter's absurdly destructive War On Inflation (which ended with
the rate at abou 20%!) didn't have anything to do with it at all.  It's all
Reagan's fault.  The Devil made us Americans vote for him.

}	So after four years of being screwed by big businesses (because
}they really have all the power - they make or break the economy) the people
}just said stop, its better to have the real crooks in office.  Kind of
}the same arguement for legalizing weed in some people's minds, at least you
}can keep an eye on it because you know its going to happen anyway.

Hah!  Do you really think that this is the kind of country we'd have if
business was given free reign?  How unimaginative and ignorant.

}	This year?  Who wants to get another oil shortage or who knows what
}else if we elect a democrate or even a third party candidate?  Big Business
}is running the US and until they come under more government control (which
}wasn't possible in Iran) they continue to hold the pleasure and punishment.
}And we're not talking about ma and pa's store, I mean joe conglomerate who
}shuts down a plant in Ohio because he doesn't like Carter's new tax 
}proposal designed to make business pay their fair share. 

Businesses don't pay taxes, consumers pay taxes.  Besides, taxation is still
theft, and the only fair quanity of theft is zero.

}	Anyway, Carter was pro-legalization/pro-decriminalization.  The 
}rest is speculation, although I think it makes a pretty good sequel to 
}the JFK movie.  Throw in the assasination of John Lennon by a guy who 
}didn't even know who he himself was (ala CIA brainwashing) and you've 
}really got a story.  John Lennon was a thorn in the side of everyone who 
}supported the military complex.  He was always insisting on peace (not
}to mention legalizing marijuana), he was not a member of the grey suit 
}crowd and he was usually highly visible.  Of course his death early in 
}the Reagan years changed all that.  When he got shoot we knew we were 
}in for real trouble, and we got it too.  

John Lennon also made the observation that "Everything the government touches
turns to shit."  Including the economy.

Carter was indeed in favor of replacing prohibition with something better
by all accounts, but this sort of nonsense makes us opponents of prohibition
look bad.  The pro-prohibition movement is driven my moral argument against
relativism, which is symbolized by licentious drug use.  Playing fast and
loose with the facts of history and economics isn't going to counter this,
only moral arguments in favor of ending prohibition is.


Tim Starr - Renaissance Now! - Think Universally, Act Selfishly

"True greatness consists in the use of a powerful understanding to enlighten
oneself and others." - Voltaire