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9/11 and the National Security State

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On the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, let us never forget the role that the U.S. government played in engendering the anger and hatred that produced the attacks. Yes, I know the standard statist response: “You’re a justifier! You’re a justifier! You’re just justifying the 9/11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans.” But that’s nothing more than a clever tactic designed to keep people from focusing on the role that the U.S. national-security state played in engendering the anger and hatred that led to the attacks. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, motive is different from justification. Just ask any criminal prosecutor, who emphasizes the motive of the accused to commit the criminal act while not justifying or defending what the accused has supposedly done. With the end of the Cold War in 1989, people were talking about a “peace dividend,” a concept that necessarily questioned why it was necessary to continue having an enormous national-security state. Both the military and ...

The War on Drugs: Cui Bono?

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Cui bono, a maxim of Cassius quoted by Cicero meaning “who benefits?” or “to whose advantage?” is a useful principle when investigating political assassinations, conspiracy theories, mysterious deaths — and the war on drugs. The war on drugs, which actually began in the United States before World War I with the passage of a series of federal anti-narcotics laws, was officially declared by Richard Nixon in 1971. It was expanded by Ronald Reagan and the “Just Say No” campaign of the 1980s, reached ridiculous heights under George W. Bush’s Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, and continues in 2012 under Barack Obama and his crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries. Although the war on drugs is a war on a victimless crime that is not sanctioned by the Constitution, has ruined countless lives, has cost untold billions, and is a failure in every respect, it continues unabated, full-steam ahead. It will not even be an issue in the 2012 presidential and congressional ...

With Freedom and Justice for Some, Part 2

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Part 1 | Part 2 Revealingly, the central function of the Constitution as law — the supreme law — was to impose limitations not on the behavior of ordinary citizens but on the federal government itself. The government, and those who ran it, were not placed outside the law, but expressly targeted by it. Indeed, the Bill of Rights is little more than a description of the lines that the most powerful political officials are barred from crossing, even if they have the power to do so and even when the majority of citizens might wish them to do so. The vital aim of law, then, was to ensure that the powerful were subjected to its dictates on equal terms with the powerless. As Jefferson put it in an April 16, 1784, letter to George Washington, the foundation on which any constitution must rest is “the denial of every preeminence.” In his 1786 “Answers to Monsieur de ...

Soldier of Empire

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Soldier, soldier, how you soar Aloft in that elevated status Reserved to those who trade In war and oppression. Soldier, soldier, do not fear; You’ll never hear an unkindness — Insulated from the truth Of murder and rapine. Soldier, soldier, may you take This blue-blood daughter’s hand? Honored would her father be To hear tales of empire. Soldier, soldier, how is it that Across the spectrum of politeness We speak of hope and ...

Constitutional Conservative or Libertarian?

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Libertarians — those who believe that violence is proper only in the defense of person or property and who believe that people have the fundamental right to do anything that’s peaceful — have an image problem, according to some “libertarian-leaning” conservatives. Although those conservatives claim to espouse many libertarian viewpoints, they prefer to shy away from the term “libertarian” ...