OK, this should probably be in 2 or 3 posts.
But it all kinda comes together.
Stay with me please.
1.
PROHIBITION...DOES...NOT...WORK.Repeat after me:
PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK.
It didn't work with tea in the colonies in 1773.
It didn't work with 'demon rum' in the 'roaring 20s.
It isn't working with the 'War on Drugs'.
The Volstead Act (Prohibition) mainly served to create a criminal class with as much or more clout in politics as many multinational corporations now. And yes, I equate the two when it comes to deleterious effects on our political and social systems.
The
'War on Drugs' has aided and abetted that criminal class and created brand new ones in some urban black and Hispanic ghettos. I'm not linking to sources, but would just guesstimate that it's cost our country (ME and YOU...Taxpayers) billions of dollars in the salaries of DEA personnel, state and local cops, the cost of incarceration of the 'criminals', cost of the court proceedings, and time (and money) wasted by local, state, and federal governments in passing 'anti-drug' legislation.
The tea?OK, this wasn't exactly a 'prohibition'. It was just a money grab by the largest multi-national corporation in the WORLD (at that time) who got a HUGE government subsidy (tax break) in order to dictate to American colonists as to how and where they could buy their tea and at what price.
The WalMart of the era.
Tea was the drink of choice in the colonies.
Watch Thom Hartmann's excellent video account about the REAL original Tea party. Quoting from a book by one of the actual participants.
It's an eye opener.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/04/02/video-the-original-tea-party-was-not-anti-government-but-anti-corporation/2.
NATION BUILDING?It rarely, if ever works.
Especially not in the mainly tribal middle-east.
I was talking to a British friend today.
She wondered why we never learn.
"We've been there, done that, and failed miserably."
Read this:
"Ottoman rule over
Iraq lasted until World War I when the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers. In the Mesopotamian campaign against the Central Powers,
British forces invaded the country and suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Turkish army during the Siege of Kut (1915–16). After the war the Ottoman Empire was divided up, and the British Mandate of Mesopotamia was established by League of Nations mandate.
(circa 1919)Britain imposed a Hāshimite monarchy on Iraq and defined the territorial limits of Iraq without taking into account the politics of the different ethnic and religious groups in the country, in particular those of the Kurds and the Assyrians to the north. During the British occupation, the Shi'ites and Kurds fought for independence. Iraq also became an oligarchy government at this time.
Although the monarch Faisal I of Iraq was legitimized and proclaimed King by a plebiscite in 1921,
nominal independence was only achieved in 1932, when the British Mandate officially ended."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iraq#20th_centuryThat's basically a 13 year occupation.
And they still didn't 'win' (achieve their goals).
Afghanistan"
The 10-year Soviet occupation resulted in the killings of between 600,000 and two million Afghans, mostly civilians.<94> About 6 million fled as Afghan refugees to Pakistan and Iran, and from there over 38,000 made it to the United States<95> and many more to the European Union. Faced with mounting international pressure and great number of casualties on both sides, the Soviets withdrew in 1989. Their withdrawal from Afghanistan was seen as an ideological victory in America, which had backed some Mujahideen factions through three U.S. presidential administrations to counter Soviet influence in the vicinity of the oil-rich Persian Gulf. The USSR continued to support President Mohammad Najibullah (former head of the Afghan secret service, KHAD) until 1992.<96>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan#Saur_revolution_and_Soviet_warWhy is it 'we' (Americans) think we're somehow 'special'.
"Exceptional", to quote many right-wing politicians?
Why do we think we're God's Chosen People who can go in to another geographical area (to call them 'countries' or 'nations' would be a huge misinterpretation of how they work and are governed) and 'presto-changeo' make them into western style democracies?
I'm appalled that our so-called leaders are just that fecking stupid.
End of rant.
:grr: