Bob Barr at HuffPo: “I was wrong about the War on Drugs”
Bob Barr is now writing at HuffPo. His first piece repudiates the War on Drugs. Here’s the intro section of his first article:
I’ll admit it, just five years ago I was “Public Enemy Number 1” in the eyes of the Libertarian Party. In my 2002 congressional race for Georgia’s Seventh District, the Libertarian Party ran scathing attack ads against my stand on Medical Marijuana.Today, I am their presidential nominee and will represent libertarians at the top of the ticket on November 4th.
Huh?
That’s right, Bob Barr, formerly the War on Drugs loving, Wiccan mocking, Clinton impeaching Republican is the presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party.
Now, you may be asking how this happened and my answer is simple: “The libertarians won.”
For more than three decades, the Libertarian Party and small “l” libertarians have done their part to prove to America that liberty is the answer to most of the problems that we face today. Over the past several years, I was one of the many people influenced by this small party.
Here’s Barr on the War on Drugs:
For years, I served as a federal prosecutor and member of the House of Representatives defending the federal pursuit of the drug prohibition.Today, I can reflect on my efforts and see no progress in stopping the widespread use of drugs. I’ll even argue that America’s drug problem is larger today than it was when Richard Nixon first coined the phrase, “War on Drugs,” in 1972.
America’s drug problem is only compounded by the vast amounts of money directed at this ongoing battle. In 2005, more than $12 billion dollars was spent on federal drug enforcement efforts while another $30 billion was spent to incarcerate non-violent drug offenders.
The result of spending all of those taxpayer’s dollars? We now have a huge incarceration tab for non-violent drug offenders and, at most, a 30% interception rate of hard drugs. We are also now plagued with the meth labs that are popping up like poisonous mushrooms across the country.
While it is clear the War on Drugs has been a failure, it is not enough to simply acknowledge that reality. We need to look for solutions that deal with the drug problem without costly and intrusive government agencies, and instead allow for private industry and organizations to put forward solutions that address the real problems.
He also provided an example of how the free-market system can responsibly outperform intrusive and costly government programs with respect to drug abuse, applauding the WWE for how they dealt with steroid abuse problems.
With or without his friend Glenn (AKA Kane) Jacobs, don’t expect Barr to be jumping into the Friday Night Smackdown. “I don’t want to be responsible for hurting any of those little guys,” Barr wrote.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
That’s it. I can’t stand Barr any more. He’s a bloody Libertarian!
June 10th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Thomas J. you get the “Made me laugh” award for the day. LOL
June 10th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Wow, I’m impressed. Maybe I was wrong…
June 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Careful disinter, you might be singing “zippity do-dah” before long,
June 10th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Yes, disinter, impressive indeed…this will win him also more votes from not only skeptical Libertarians, but also Greens, Democrats and African-American and other minorities, whose families are in jail. The non-violent drug offenders in jail would also be able to vote in November? (they should be quite a substantial group) and with Barr’s sincere “change we can believe in” (instead of Obama’s change that changes nothing, only rhetoric) he can get a lot of their votes as well:-) I think Ron Paul, being also a conservative-libertarians on his part helped Barr to follow and trust (e.g. Barr is going to be far more trusting in Ron Paul than Rob Kampia, for instance).
He can and should just emphathize the role of the family and churches and social institutions in combatting this medical problem, and he will get/retain the votes of social conservatives as well
June 10th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Gee, here’s a guy with all the integrity of a Mitt Romney. He dodges questions about whether he signed a check paying for an abortion his former wife is said to have and now, Romneylike, an aparition concerning that most important of matters respecting national wellbeing, the unencumberred use of mind altering substances! Now there’s a self-donative set of moral priorities for you. Can’t you just tell, Bob “cares”.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Woah! Disinter! You really said that? Is this one of the signs of the Apocalypse???? Maybe I need to stock up on food and water and run to the hills!
June 10th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
John Lowell, you do know that we could all be considered murders, right?
June 10th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Barr also needs to point out that the war on drugs has been the root source of most of the police corruption in the country since the 80’s. Since drug property confiscations come back into their pocket, there is great incentive to target people with property so it can be auctioned off and he proceeds go to the police…..often before the defendants are proven guilty under due process.
TAKE THE MONEY OUT OF DRUGS, and you will stop the corrosive effects of them beyond the users themselves which is a health care problem, not a criminal one.
The “free market” in drugs has given us what we have now. vast criminal empires and compromised police forces. Either allow the drug manufacturers to sell low cost drugs through doctors and pharms, or just let government give the stuff away for free. Either tactic would kill the illegal drug trade worldwide almost overnight.
You cant compete with free. The source does not matter from a practical perspective. (as a former libertarian, I dont care much which one it is )- What counts is that the corrosive effects of the drug war are stopped once and for all.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
WOW!
Now that’s impressive! It gives a beautiful (albeit tragic) example of how the private sector can step up and get the job done in the absence of government, and also shows how things can be (and are!) done.
Excellent piece!
June 10th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Bill Wood,
Well, we certainly know that Bob Barr might be, eh?
June 10th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
John Lowell, Bob Barr is no more a murderer than you are.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Wow, I’m impressed. Maybe I was wrong…
This is the big one! Hold on, Elizabeth! I’m comin’ up to join you, honey!
June 10th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Bill,
If Bob Barr signed a check in payment of an abortion said to have been had by his former wife he is formally complicit morally in an act of murder. One can wiggle and squirm all they’d like but the buck simply stops there. And Bob just reports in dumb when asked about the check, answers tons of questions that aren’t asked but not this one. All of which raises the additional question might Bob Barr be an evasive murderer. Can you help establish certainty with either of these points, Bill. I’d be grateful.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
John, I guess you will probably be voting for someone else, then.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Disinter: “Wow, I’m impressed. Maybe I was wrong…”
What?! Don’t say that, Disinter! What would we do at this site without its resident a-hole? Your job is to incessantly attack other people like a retard. Stick to it, buddy!
Lowell, why don’t you hire a private detective to get to the bottom of this matter? It’s clearly keeping you awake at night.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Good release.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Bill,
Can’t help us with additional detail, Bill?
You’re right, unless I can get an outright denial from the Barr campaign concerning the check, I won’t be voting for him. Would prefer to see that my vote be placed in the presence of an active conscience. At least one of us has to come away from the election that way, eh, Bill?
June 10th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
JT,
I know, its concern just for me that impells your raising this question, isn’t it JT. Are we to conclude that just like Bob Barr, you care about things like little children, sleepless nights, and ones having an adequate stash? How could I doubt it?
June 10th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
John, my conscience is just fine. I don’t care if Barr signed a check or not that is none of my business, (I’d guess he didn’t) but I do care that he wants to save lives trying to avoid war with Iran, and other places.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
JL,
Pro-Choice libs don’t give a sh%t about whether or not Mr. Barr paid for his ex-wife’s abortion. It was a matter between his family and their doctor, we should stay the hell out it.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
JL,
Now there you go shoulding all over yourself, JL. Just so you won’t come away from life with the kind of conscience formation the SS guards at Auschwitz experienced, accept this brief tutorial: Murder is never “a matter between [a] family and their doctor”. Murder is a alway heinous even when it involves a mother and her own child. Repeat that over and over to yourself. Maybe you’ll actually be able to play a constructive part in America’s future.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
But there is still one issue Barr refuses to address, that even the author remembered to address.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
RE: conversions from Bob Barr
I appologize for ‘Biblical reference’ here, but I remain a ‘doubting Thomas’.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
So why hasn’t Barf called for an END to the war on drugs?
June 10th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Wrong disinter your barf-tards.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Now he needs to quickly do a HuffPo piece on Foreign Policy, including getting out of Korea, Japan, Iraq, and Germany. He might even consider the Ron Paul position that takes the money saved in foreign policy and applies it to unwinding the unfunded entitlement fiasco. A position that may not appeal to libertarian purists, but makes a good news story.
Or is HuffPo just out to marginalize the LP by promoting its position on drug legalization as Barr’s priority issue.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Where does Barf call for drug legalization?
June 10th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Bill,
Oh, please, no, I’m not talking about some libertarian, see-no-evil stand-in, Bill, I’m talking about an honest-to-goodness, authentic, human conscience. And about that terribly noble purpose of saving lives in Iraq, remember that peace begins in the womb, and that any construct said to respect life that doesn’t include that most fundamental of elements is likely to have been sold to you by someone that offers Rolexes from inside his trenchcoat. Maybe even someone like Bob Barr.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Too bad Barf doesn’t feel the same way.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
JL,
Ahh…its the old ” If you do not believe as i do then you are a nazi” bag. Been there heard it before, keep trying my friend….
June 10th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
jre,
Oh, I don’t see much difference at all in the psychology that finds abortion acceptable and the attitudes governing the behavior of the SS guards at Auschwitz, jre. Why do you? Are you unfamiliar with history or simply ignorant of what is going on right under your nose? The SS were steeped – like modern “wymin” – in a mindset that dehumanized those they intended to destroy. The Jews weren’t human, they were the “ferment of decomposition in peoples”, “filth” and the like. Its easy to feel comfortable desposing of “filth”, of course. Similarly, children today are dehumanized, they are “fetuses”, “blastocysts”, “clumps of cells”, all with the very same purpose of justifying their destruction. So I wouldn’t put it quite as you have, “If you do not believe as i do then you are a nazi”. I think it goes more like this: If you think and behave like a Nazi, you’re a Nazi. Like that better? I do.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
All he says is that the drug war isn’t working.
In fact, on Colbert he said “the CURRENT drug war isn’t working.” As if the next one will be a success.
On Hannity, 2 months ago he declared support for drug prohibition.
I know everybody wishes he’d say that that he is for legalization, but he has hasn’t even said medical weed should be legal.
The best he can do is punt to “states rights” on the issue. Ron Paul never had a problem with this issue. Why does Barr?
June 10th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Repeat after me: Barr is a fraud….Barr is a fraud…
The Republican Lite candidate brings nothing new to the table.
Barr is a fraud…
June 10th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Barr isn’t any more a fraud than anyone else in this party. He, unlike a very very minuscule portion of us, converted to being a libertarian, rather than being born one.
I think he feels, like a lot of us do, that mass substance abuse is a bad thing. He has admitted that the government has no part in prohibition, several times now.
Does that mean that he (or me, or anyone else) cannot work to dissuade (not coerce) people from abusing any substance?
No.
The Government should stay out of it- but if I want to encourage my friends not to smoke crack or pot, or clove cigarettes, that is within my right. If they don’t like my comments, they can discuss them with me and move on- or whatever, as it is our right to decide.
If I use my own money to rent a billboard or ad time that says “Crack kills! Don’t Smoke Crack!” – that is perfectly fine and libertarian. In a Libertarian world, I would probably work with friends and associates of mine who had the same opinion, and we would pool our money and create a national advertising campaign that forwards our view. Could I see Barr helping me do this? Absolutely. Is that what he (and others like myself) might call a “war on drugs”? Maybe. Would if be completely different from the current one? Absolutely.
I wish libertarians would realise that many people hold many different, equally correct “libertarian” views on things.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
My former Governor, on his way to not being the Republican nominee, had a series of these conversions, conversions that being consistent with his beliefs as a much younger man were far more credible than the conversions he experienced on the way to becoming our governor.
This sort of change is at best very hard to sell to the average voter as being credible, even if it is completely true and heartfelt.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Because barf is a fraud and the barfers believe anything.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
....I think it goes more like this: If you think and behave like a Nazi, you’re a Nazi. Like that better? I do.
I am glad that you feel better John. Maybe one day we’ll meet somewhere and you can call me a nazi to my face.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
So barf is a nazi? I agree.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
More impressive than Barr’s statement is Disinter’s statement right here, admitting that maybe he was wrong.
Who’d ever think Disinter would do that? Now if he could only come around to actually supporting our Troops and the Military, then he’d really start to gain some respect around here.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
“So barf is a nazi? I agree.”
Seriously, grow the fuck up.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
“It seems that throughout his 50s, Barr still can’t decide what he wants to be when he grows up.”
http://dankilo.com/index.php?q=node/61
June 10th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
“Maybe one day we’ll meet somewhere and you can call me a nazi to my face.”
Are we to treat this statement as your affirming that you think and act like a Nazi, jre? If so, we needn’t delay until we meet someday, we can manage the diagnosis right here and now: You’re a Nazi.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
“When he was 50, Barr got his anti-marijuana Barr Amendment passed. At age 51, the ACLU sued to overturn the Barr Amendment but he just tacked another Barr Amendment on to another bill that same year. This amendment preemptively blocked future attempts by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) to reform marijuana laws in DC using the initiative process—a 1st amendment right. At age 53, a federal judge struck down this portion of the Barr Amendment and Barr responded: “Clearly, the court today has ignored the constitutional right and responsibility of Congress to pass laws protecting citizens from dangerous and addictive narcotics, and the right of Congress to exert legislative control over the District of Columbia as the nation’s capital.” Still, at the age of 53, Barr makes the statement: “There is no legitimate use whatsoever for marijuana. This is not medicine. This is bogus witchcraft. It has no place in medicine, no place in pain relief. . . .”
http://dankilo.com/index.php?q=node/61
June 10th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Did the Pope instruct you on what constitutes being a Nazi?
June 10th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
jre,
Looks as though you’re about ready to don your bedsheet, eh, little fella? But its Tuesday night and aren’t Tuesday nights Jew night at your Klavern? Thursdays are for Catholics. So while your waiting, why not find a way to stick your veiled threats and your Catholic hating where the moon don’t shine and crawl back under that rock from which you emerged a few hours ago.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Because barf is a fraud and the barfers believe anything.
We know he’s a fraud. That’s why we support him.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
LOL…..so I am a nazi and a klansman. How about an anti-gay rant from you and we will have just about covered it all tonight. BTW, Didn’t the nazi’s hate the gays too? Maybe…..you are the nazi. Now get to your priest and confess your sins son…Mother Mary will understand.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
what a bunch of stupid shit.
Damn, I miss Austin. When he ran this joint it was better.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:34 am
John Lowell,
I find it odd that any American would think he had the right to see another American’s private medical records as well as the related finanical records as to who paid the bills for any services rendered. Your post is very distrbing to me.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:09 am
If you really believe Barr is no longer a drug warrior, read this article he wrote in March 2008 where is is suggesting that the US (govt) should be more involved in South America in part due to the “cocaine, marijuana and heroin from South and Central America”.
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/barrcode/entries/2008/03/19/wary_eye_on_south_america.html
Oh wait, I forgot someone told me he has recently changed and is now a libertarian.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:24 am
MARY WAS DOWN WITH 5 YEAR OLDS AND GRANDPA’S GETTING IT ON. WHY NOT THROW A LITTLE CRANK INTO THE MIX TO SPICE THINGS UP A BIT. JUST SAY NO TO BARR! WE LOVE YOU MARY!
June 11th, 2008 at 7:25 am
...lowell, let’s make a deal…you make all decisions about what is attached to YOUR umbilcal cord in YOUR womb..ditto for others..
(i get a hoot out of these Constitpation Party cheerleaders…they lie that ‘we’re for small, limited, etc. government’..while their biggest initiative/concern apparently is to give us some new stinking BIG GOVERNMENT ABORTION POLICY..
..btw, dummy..’abortion’ and ‘murder’ are different things..hence, different words.. ;o)
..as to you barfmeisters and your stooooooooooooooo….ooooooooopid ‘legalization’..why can’t you republican fuckheads get it straight and SIMPLE?..(‘adult’) PEOPLE HAVE AN OBVIOUS, SELF-EVIDENT RIGHT/RESPONSIBILTY TO/FOR SELF-MEDICATION/INGESTION..ALWAYS HAVE, ALWAYS WILL, you brainwashed dildons…
..and maybe barf should apologize to/for the literally MILLIONS of people/lives he’s fucked up with his stinking republicrat ‘drug war’..instead of merely blow-holing for some stinking puff piece in ‘huffpo’..
(with ‘Libertarians’ like these barf mule-lopers who needs republicrats?) ;o)
..i gotta admit, barf was shrewd in getting the LP nomination..i underestimated the stooooooooo…ooooooooopidity of you denver barfucks, etc. assorted dopes, and figured he had no chance..and, by declaring late, he avoided many people ACTUALLY DISCOVERING WHAT A REPUBLICAN SHITHEAD AND WEASEL HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN!!..
..so the LP is stuck with a stinking ‘conservative’ republicrat pig in a poke in an environment of deserved disgust directed at stinking republicrats!..people clamoring for ‘change’ and you fucking idiots give us a ‘conservative’ (look the word up, dildopes)
..great move, you fucking idiots!..but have a good day..
June 11th, 2008 at 7:58 am
...btw, the initial motive for ‘the war on drugs’ was to ‘CURB THE USE OF DRUGS’..
..and what a terrible failure!...for example, when pot was somewhat ‘criminalized’ in ?1937 i’ve confirmed that VERY FEW PEOPLE HAD EVEN HEARD OF ‘marijuana’..never mind smoked it..
...now some 70 years later and you fucking stooooooooo…..ooooooooopid republicrat prohibitionists and busybodies CAN’T EVEN FIND A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WHO HASN’T BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED SUCKING ON A BONG IN COLLEGE…
...yet another great republicrat policy, you republicrat shitheads!.. ;o)
June 11th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Hi Eric,
By all means, don’t go into a decline over all of this, Eric. The question simply concerns whether Barr signed a check paying for an abortion his former wife is said to have had. There’s just no need to look at medical records. All that is required of Barr is a simple yes or no. Larry King asked this question of him in a televised interview in 1999 and Barr did not give him an answer. Barr has positioned himself as pro-life publically so the question has enormous bearing on his truthfulness as a public figure. I’m not willing to vote for someone whose salary I’m paying that can’t manage an answer to a question I consider important. If you like your public servants quite this unresponsive, you deserve what you get from them.
June 11th, 2008 at 8:40 am
This is much better. It’s still missing the information that the war on drugs fuels violent crime by creating a black market that does not shun violence. It could also have mentioned that drug abuse is a family problem or a medical problem rather than a legal problem. But outside of that, I am pleased with this release.
Cheers,
Alex Peak
June 11th, 2008 at 8:41 am
jre,
Not terribly hard to sense the poison in you, slime. Take your anti-Catholic vomit to some blog where all the other bigots have a hundred legs.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:34 am
The best he can do is punt to “states rights” on the issue. Ron Paul never had a problem with this issue. Why does Barr?
Bull. Paul takes exactly the same states rights position as Barr. He never unequivocally calls for legalization across the board.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Umm, it is missing the most important part of all: a call to END the war on drugs. Hello?
June 11th, 2008 at 9:40 am
You don’t know what the hell you are talking about. I have personally witnessed Ron Paul call for the immediate end to the drug war in speeches I have attended. For more on his stance, go here:
http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/topic.php?id=23
June 11th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Calling for an immediate end to the (federal) drug war is not at all the same thing as calling for across-the-board legalization.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Clark,
“...lowell, let’s make a deal…you make all decisions about what is attached to YOUR umbilcal cord in YOUR womb..ditto for others..”
I know, Clark, you had a terrible time adjusting to the social requirements at that day care center. Ask Mommy to explain what other people are.
“..btw, dummy..’abortion’ and ‘murder’ are different things..hence, different words.. ;o)”
For those of us old enough to grasp the concept they’re treated as synonyms, Clark, but I’m taking a risk in your case employing words with more than four letters.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:44 am
We could surely use a little moderation around here to keep at least the pretense of civility.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Bob Barf is not about liberty. He doesn’t even acknowledge that the war on plants is a total fraud; no fact, no truth, no grounds, no real causes or scientific evidence was used to outlaw some of the oldest, useful plants on the planet. The truth about these plants has always been available. Racism, lies and hysteria gave us this travesty. This is one of the best examples of institutionalized corruption.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
All I know is that I’m not voting for the Republicrat status quo. I’ll vote for frickin’ SpongeBob before I do that.. then I’ll be READY! yaaaay!
June 11th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
# timothy west Says:
June 10th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
what a bunch of stupid shit.
Damn, I miss Austin. When he ran this joint it was better.
http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/
June 11th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
June 10th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
what a bunch of stupid shit.
Damn, I miss Austin. When he ran this joint it was better.
http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/
June 11th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
So you won’t be voting for barf? Good.