Xref: utzoo talk.politics.misc:41395 alt.drugs:2120
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!texbell!attctc!csccat!larry
From: larry@csccat.UUCP (Larry Spence)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Koop on drug testing in the workplace
Message-ID: <3475@csccat.UUCP>
Date: 17 Jan 90 22:52:42 GMT
References: <51002@bbn.COM> <5353@blake.acs.washington.edu> <650@watserv1.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: larry@csccat.UUCP (Larry Spence)
Followup-To: talk.politics.misc
Distribution: na
Organization: Computer Support Corporation. Dallas,Texas
Lines: 71

In article <650@watserv1.waterloo.edu> dmcanzi@watserv1.waterloo.edu (David Canzi) writes:
>
>The stimulation of anger, hatred, and resentment is the perfect tool
>for getting a people to give away their freedoms.  The politics of
>anger, hatred, and resentment are all around us.

In addition to anger, hatred, and resentment, let's not forget laziness.
Over the last ??? years, a lot of nasty problems have been festering in
the US: poverty, crime, national debt, poor response to foreign competition,
etc.  True solutions to those problems (1) are long-term in nature, (2) may
require drastic changes in the economy and social structure, (3) will cost
money and effort, (4) will often not be very exciting or telegenic.

Politicians are not willing to bite the bullet and start working on long-
term, realistic solutions, with few exceptions.  It's not entirely their
fault, they get elected on the basis of whether they made their constitu-
ents financially successful and secure during their term.  This is not
always the case with all voters, but it's my opinion that most voters go
with the candidate that will disrupt their lives the least and put the
most money in their pocket.  Call me cynical if you like.

Since these nasty problems are growing, and recently discovered ones like
global warming are appearing, we need a QUICK FIX.  Well, there really
aren't any, so what to do?  Distract the voters.  It's DRUGS that are the
cause of poverty, poor productivity, amorality, debt, etc.!  Yes, that's
it!  There have been numerous polls that have found that Americans think
that drugs are the Number 1 Problem Facing The Nation.  So this strategy
appears to be working.  It now seems a bit archaic to rage about "those
damn Commies," since we've finally figured out that they're real people
who aren't really so different from the rest of us.  But everyone Knows
that drug users are Bad People, Criminals, etc.  Very little in the War
On Drugs addresses compassion or rehabilitation, since we've been taught
that these people are Scum.  If you were a very poor ghetto black person,
and you had no hope of doing any better, and you were offered drugs that
would make you feel good again, even for just a short while, don't you
think that YOU would take them?  Let's not fool ourselves!

Thus, attacking the drug problem is substituted for attacking all the other
problems that we face as a nation.  The average American doesn't have to
make any unpleasant changes in his/her lifestyle in order to attack the
Drug Menace.  Just let the government do what's appropriate -- random
searches, blood and urine tests, stepping on the Constitution in general.
"I don't do drugs, so that's fine with me, right?  Sure, I don't like to
see the Constitution stretched, but this is Our Worst Problem!"  I think
that this is the attitude of many people.  They feel that saying things
like this is "doing their part to attack the Problem."  And it's easy,
just open your mouth and say it.  No sacrifices.

In a way, it would be neat for all illegal drug use to be wiped out. It
would then become obvious that it wasn't responsible for most of our
crime (although the illegal status certainly adds to it), most of our
economic problems, most of our schooling problems, etc.  I think that's
one of the aspects that the government finds most attractive: they know
they can't possibly win this war in any conclusive sense.  They'll
always be able to say "we're not trying hard enough," spending enough
money, doing enough monitoring and testing, etc.  They'll always have
this scapegoat around to blame.  

Meanwhile, major corporations foul our air, land, and water.  Homeless
people starve while our President asks for a cut in the capital gains tax.
These things are occasionally mentioned in the media, but the term "war"
is not used.

>We are in deep shit.

Exactly. 

-- 
Larry Spence
larry@csccat
...{texbell,texsun,attctc}!csccat!larry