Pubdate: Thu, 08 Aug 2002
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Section: Pasco Edition
Copyright: 2002 St. Petersburg Times
Contact:  http://www.sptimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Author: Chris Buors, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1448/a06.html

WAR ON DRUGS A STRATEGY OF TYRANNY

Re: Abusers keep drug market alive, Aug. 1 letter.

Editor: Letter writer Frank Branca must have thought Rosa Parks was a 
criminal who, if only the state had harsher laws, would have been sitting 
at the back of the bus where she belonged, by law.

Thomas Jefferson himself articulated the key natural rights principle that 
laws aren't legitimate just because a government says they are. Nor are 
laws legitimate because they are the result of a democratic process. At 
various times, it has been perfectly legal for governments to steal 
property, to suppress free speech, to censor newspapers and to murder 
people. The worst tyrants could usually point to some legal basis for their 
actions. To be legitimate, laws must conform to moral principles. They must 
support each individual's equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness.

The writer ought to consider that America itself was born of people seeking 
to escape religious persecution. Who would have thought that Americans 
themselves would one day become the worst totalitarians because they had 
forgotten their roots of freedom and liberty for all?

The drug war is simply the latest in mankind's never-ending drama of vast 
scapegoat persecutions that serve the purpose of providing a diversion from 
the political chicanery of elected officials. Plato said it best when he 
reminded us the tyrant is always stirring up some war or another in order 
that the people might require leadership.

Chris Buors, Winnipeg, Manitoba
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