Saturday, February 18, 2006

Two interesting columns

Feminist author Susan Estrich makes an interesting statement in her most recent column:

Democrats, for all intents and purposes, have no agenda, no program and no leadership. The National Committee has no money. The national chairman went on television this weekend and got just a little confused about which investigation Dick Cheney was supposedly leaking information about to the press.

Rush Limbaugh has been talking a lot about the Democratic Party's lack of a clear, defined agenda. One of the biggets criticisms of Democrats over the past five years (and especially over the last three) is that they are not much more than the "anti-Republican" party. They oppose the President's agenda, but don't offer one of thier own.

To some extent, that isn't completely fair. Democrats have offered specific proposals, but those proposals have been drowned out by anti-Bush rhetoric. Nonetheless, when one of your most prominent supporters in the national media takes to mocking you in her sndicated column, it is time to sit up and take notice.

Over on Fox News, Radly Balko opines on the very disturbing story of a man who is on death row after shooting a police officer who burst into his home during a drug raid.

Long before I got to the end of the column, one word popped into my mind: Waco. As you may recall, a botched raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms resulted in a long standoff, and on April 19, 1993 the federal government moved in with tanks and military equipment to end the standoff. The resulting fire (likely started by the Branch Davidians) killed the people inside, and stands today as a reminder of a federal government that abused its power. Those people did not have to die, but did so the Clinton administration could save face.

The sad story of Cory Maye should be a red flag to the way we are conducting the "War on Drugs". Sadly, similar stories have been repeated many times over. How much of a police state are we willing to tolerate to keep people from using drugs? Is it time for a different approach?