@ #59: Where have you been your whole life? " Decriminalizing drugs is a naively ludicrous idea " People have been using drugs for thousands of years. The wealthiest will always have access and are largely immune from prosecution. There is no point to enriching the enemies of the USA and also enriching entire industries devoted to restricting individual liberties. The USA essentially allows everyone to go to hell in their own personal handcart, preferably if you don't bother others whilst doing it. Oregon is the ONLY state to acknowledge the reality of the situation we're in. I'd rather have USA based Mom 'n Pop farms growing opium poppies, weed & coca than having the Afghan Taliban selling opium to fund their bullshit. Look what horror we've unleashed in South America and the Middle East by outsourcing our drug habits. We need to man up and deal with our drug issues inside the boundaries of our own country, not export misery to the rest of the world. These are suggestions to deal with issues we really have. I don't care if a grown assed adult wants to become a chemical zombie, but I don't know why the rest of us need to deal with the fallout from it. The solution I proposed makes people accountable for their own behaviour. They can leave any time, just drug test clean & work your way out. Those that do get a monetary reward, those that choose to stay don't get bother the rest of us. That's fair. I don't think crackheads/cokeheads/etc. add a lot of value to our society. Legalizing drugs with a rehab farm option means the guy that uses recreationally and doesn't drag anyone else into their bullshit pretty much gets left alone. Cause drug related trouble and you get to work your way out - or don't.
" I'm gobsmacked that you are a leftist. How are you a leftist? " I'm depressed that a grown adult would feel the need to simplify his existence to arbitrary memes. There is only objective reality, physics and mathematics. You can't reconcile advocating for small government and still want to control peoples lives. Small government means taking care of your own business and not interfering with others going about theirs. It doesn't mean you get to poison the common groundwater, farmland, air, use paid political connections to corner markets, etc.
" You seem to believe anything CNN or MSNBC tells you, which is utterly stoopid " Really? You have never seen me use BBC quotes? What's YOUR anointed word, Breitbart? You were the guy claiming Los Angeles was going to the GOP. It got real quiet when I posted cal-state numbers showing quite the opposite. I try to test my post info against at least a couple other sources.