Mr. Hales may be right to blanche at my suggestion, that drug legalization would (in this setting at least) simply play into the hands of the therapeutic state. Perhaps taking any wind out of the drug legalization movement is a dumb idea.
I’m not mapping out a retreat on a civil liberties issue, though, and it might be a sign of slight myopia that Dylan understands my remarks that way. What I said is undeniably true, to wit: legalization would not occur in a vacuum, but would be a process carefully monitored by whatever regime was in control. For the foreseeable future that regime is therapeutic and politically correct and exerts enormous control over our thoughts and social behavior. If Hales really believes that the powers that be would, in the event of legalization, allow habits and attitudes to resume a somewhat normal, traditional pattern, he should support his view. As far as I can see this is the one course that our handlers will never permit our society to take with regard to anything, be it pot, polyamory, or pistols. As in all things the State will press exotica upon its subjects using the tools of a relatively “soft” tyranny in ways I’ve already outlined, and that are familiar to everyone. Does Dylan think that the process of normalization is as far along as it is because of natural, organic changes among settled human attitudes? Or does he suspect that a half-century of government emphasis on the anti-traditional might have something to do with morphing viewpoints?
Legalization still might be the preferable course. But what’s “horribly misguided” about stating the obvious?
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Re: A Third Thought on Legalization
Mr. Hales may be right to blanche at my suggestion, that drug legalization would (in this setting at least) simply play into the hands of the therapeutic state. Perhaps taking any … [Read More]
Posted by Evan McLaren on March 23, 2009
The Usual Suspects