Self Control

Michael Gerson is taking Ron Paul to task for his performance in the recent Republican debates.

Paul was the only candidate at the debate to make news, calling for the repeal of laws against prostitution, cocaine and heroin. The freedom to use drugs, he argued, is equivalent to the freedom of people to “practice their religion and say their prayers.” Liberty must be defended “across the board.” “It is amazing that we want freedom to pick our future in a spiritual way,” he said, “but not when it comes to our personal habits.”

This argument is strangely framed: If you tolerate Zoroastrianism, you must be able to buy heroin at the quickie mart. But it is an authentic application of libertarianism, which reduces the whole of political philosophy to a single slogan: Do what you will — pray or inject or turn a trick — as long as no one else gets hurt.

Without self control self government is impossible. Gerson says that self control is impossible (how did we manage for the 30 years heroin was legal over the counter?). Thus we will need minders. Drug minders for sure. Probably sex and food minders as well. Not to mention income minders.

It used to be government was to protect us from each other. Now it is tasked with protecting us from ourselves. A much bigger job. No government ever invented has been equal to that task and you don't even want to live under governments that would make serious efforts at TOTAL Control. Such governments have a bad name. They are called Totalitarian.

Medical Totolitarianism

Dan Rhiel is discussing the recent dust up about the socialized medicine poster children. I have some thoughts on the subject:

What happens when some government junk scientist discovers that eating carrots is bad for you? Carrot rationing.

Or suppose they decide pot is good for you? You will be forced to consume your daily ration in front of a government agent. To keep health care costs down.

And I f****n' hate pot prohibition.

We are on the edge of totalitarianism with this stupid government run medicine.

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Totalitarians

Totalitarians always find some group characteristic that is "objectionable" and use it to have a nice little pogrom on the group.

Schizophrenics take drugs. Alcohol and cigarettes in excess. They seem to also like other drugs to self medicate. Pot being among the more popular. Heroin for those with more serious trouble.

Our war on drugs is just another way to punish the mentally ill for being deviants.

Totalitarian. A modernized eugenics movement. We don't have to sterilize them, we can put them in jail. Kinder and gentler.

About 70% of female heroin addicts have been sexually abused. A good portion of the male heroin addicts fall into the same category. A lot of the people you see at the methadone clinic are victims of sexual abuse. Others are no doubt victims of other trauma. Obviously they deserve further punishment for taking heroin to relieve their pain.

Totalitarian indeed.

Every society seems to need its devils. Our devils are abused children and the mentally ill. Swell. Just swell.

Excuse me for not falling into line, but the Emperor is naked and covered with feces and is followed by a horde of flies. Not a parade I'd care to join.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Law and Order

Roberto, a grower of the herb yerba mate who lives near Yaguaron, tells me that Paraguayans "need another Stroessner to stop Lugo." He is one of those who fall into the trap of thinking that the alternative to left-wing populism is right-wing authoritarianism. "He did some nasty things to some people," Roberto acknowledges of the late dictator, "but there was order in the country."

From: Alvaro Vargas Llosa

Update: We have a commenter who thinks yerba mate is a drug. It is. From the wiki:

Mate contains xanthines, which are alkaloids in the same family as caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine, well-known stimulants also found in coffee and chocolate. Mate also contains elements such as potassium, magnesium and manganese. [11] Caffeine content varies between 0.3% and 1.7% of dry weight (compare this to 2.5–4.5% for tea leaves, and 1.5% for ground coffee).

HT Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Desire To Punish

"Distrust anyone in whom the desire to punish is powerful" Friedrich Nietzsche

Update: we have some commenters who think that crime requires punishment. All crime. So I say, "Let us bring back the Inquisition". Let us criminalize desire. Bring back alcohol prohibition.

With the right kind of government we can eliminate deviation. Totally.

Which is why such people are called totalitarians. I did not tag this post lightly.

My People

I'm having an e-mail discussion with a rabid "punish the drug users until they quit or die" type. Here is my response:

If Hitler put them in camps they are my people. Sad that they are not yours. Count me with the Jews, the gays, the mental defectives, and the drug users.

Update: We have a commenter who says he has a family member destroyed by drugs.

Addiction Is A Genetic Disease

Heroin

The heroin bit is really good. Some 70% of female heroin uses were sexually molested. If any one needs more punishment they do.

PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System

And of course people suffering from PTSD should be denied their choice of relief. Since there is no cure. They should suffer in silence. If they don't follow orders they must be severely punished. It is why we have morality police. Every vice must be a crime. Only then will we attain the required moral purity. Without purity of essence we are doomed. From the The Department of Justice:

Chronic drug abuse may occur in conjunction with any mental illness identified in the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV). Some common serious mental disorders associated with chronic drug abuse include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, manic depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and antisocial personality disorder. Some of these disorders carry with them an increased risk of drug abuse

When you consider it carefully, what we have is a way to punish the mentally ill who do not subscribe to the prescriptions of the medical cartel. Well at least it gets them off the street so they will not be a botheration to normal upright citizens.

So why can't a person who has trouble with the wrong drugs get help? Because admitting drug use is an admission of a crime.