[Hoot Gibson]

Sounds like some of you boys/girls want the Republican party to become a watered down version of the Democrat Party. I am always amazed that, when Republicans lose an election, the call comes out from Republicans and Democrats alike that the party must change. On the other hand, when the Democrats lose, like in 2010, there is no similar cry. They stick to their core philosophy claiming the voters were ill informed, the Republicans lied, or some other such face saver.

As I said before, the Republicans can't out Democrat the Democrats. You can sell your soul in order to win but the result will be that you won't win. The Democrats have cornered the taker vote by providing freebies paid for, for the most part, with either Republican income tax payments or Chinese loans. The Democrats are the sugar daddies. Republicans cannot compete with that. And, if they try, traditionally principled Republicans will leave the party.

If you are referring to me, Harry, nothing could be further from the truth. I have absolutely no sympathy for drug users but the current system just does not work. The way that the drug laws are administered, taxpayers are just paying for schools to train criminals. One of the benefits of legalizing drug use for adults, provided that they use their dope in the privacy of their own homes, is that many will die of overdoses and taxpayers will no longer have to pay for their support. I would only support tax paid rehab programs on a very limited basis. Maybe one paid trip to a rehab center in a single lifetime - at most. Rehab programs rarely work but maybe everybody deserves one second chance.

The second part of my proposed drug liberalization program would be to reduce or eliminate chances of parole or probation when drug addicts burglarize homes of rob businesses to support their habits, or do so because they are stoned out of their mind. The current system releases too many violent criminals before they serve their sentences and it does so with repeat offenders.

A third part of the program would be to eliminate sentencing guidelines for judges and juries. If the law provides for a term for armed robbery of 15 to 25 years, then the accused should serve a sentence of at least 15 years and the judge or jury should have the power to sentence a person to 25 years if they decide that the facts warrant a more severe punishment. In no case, should a prisoner be released without serving the minimum sentence for a crime.

Drug use in our inner cities has become a part of the culture and families are losing sons and daughters to a life of crime at a very early age. Jailing young adults for non-violent drug offenses is just increasing the chance that they will live life as a criminal. Let's face it, prisoners manage to use drugs in prisons and they learn skills to commit crimes that do involve victims.

One more thing on the use of drugs. What right does this country have to destroy crops of poppies and marijuana in foreign countries? All we do when we reduce the supply of drugs is drive their cost higher in this country and empower organized crime. The problem of drug use is a problem of demand, not supply. We are sending billions of dollars to corrupt governments to fight our problems with drugs, and the money is just being wasted.

Basically, I favor letting the law of natural selection take care of this nation's drug problems, while protecting the rest of us from violent criminals.

If "liberalizing" our drug laws as I have outlined above will get young people and minorities to start considering libertarian ideas, then I think that trading legalization of drugs for the return of a free market economy and limited government would be well worth considering.

I agree with you on the hand wringing that Republican "leaders" are doing over Romney's loss. The problem is that Romney, McCain, and Dole were all too moderate. Reagan is the only conservative that Republicans have run in decades, and he won two landslide elections.

If you were not including me in your post, I am sorry for the rant, but I thought that I should clarify my libertarian positions. The fact that RV agreed with me has me concerned that I did not make my positions clear. :biggrin: