The solution is fairly simple. Get federal government out of our business and personal lives, and ALL Americans can make a good living, white collar and blue collar (both are needed, especially blue collar these days). End of "systemic racism" and "real injustice."
Decriminalizing drug use, possession, production, transportation, selling, etc. Regulate it. Tax it.
I'm going to assume you aren't seriously asking the second question unless you've been a hermit the last 47 years. Also, because of your other post:
The drug war was at one time against the Columbian Cartel, et al. I'm asking who the drug war is against now.What drugs should be decriminalized?As a past supporter of NORML, I believed that marijuana should be decriminalized as it is in many places.
As far as my other post, I don't understand your response as there was none. If you believe government solves problems or that prejudice can be legislated away, then I strongly disagree. I can't think of a single thing that government has done to simplify or make things more affordable, or of any social problem government has solved. Can you? I get confused on the Politically Correct buzzwords du jour, as they mean absolutely nothing. In your PC world, is "institutional racism" and "systemic racism" the same thing?
“Public concern about illicit drug use built throughout the 1980s, largely due to media portrayals of people addicted to the smokeable form of cocaine dubbed “crack.” Soon after Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, his wife, Nancy Reagan, began a highly-publicized anti-drug campaign, coining the slogan "Just Say No."
This set the stage for the zero tolerance policies implemented in the mid-to-late 1980s. Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, who believed that “casual drug users should be taken out and shot,” founded the DARE drug education program, which was quickly adopted nationwide despite the lack of evidence of its effectiveness. The increasingly harsh drug policies also blocked the expansion of syringe access programs and other harm reduction policies to reduce the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS.
In the late 1980s, a political hysteria about drugs led to the passage of draconian penalties in Congress and state legislatures that rapidly increased the prison population. In 1985, the proportion of Americans polled who saw drug abuse as the nation's "number one problem" was just 2-6 percent. The figure grew through the remainder of the 1980s until, in September 1989, it reached a remarkable 64 percent – one of the most intense fixations by the American public on any issue in polling history. Within less than a year, however, the figure plummeted to less than 10 percent, as the media lost interest. The draconian policies enacted during the hysteria remained, however, and continued to result in escalating levels of arrests and incarceration.”
http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/brief-history-drug-war
I agree that the media and/or federal government manufacture a lot of crises, e.g., the "(fill in the blank) racism" crisis. If these crises actually exist, then what I don't understand is why our PC society will not allow certain things to even be considered as the possible causes and/or solutions.
Build the wall and stop the free flow of drugs into our country. Drugs have ruined many people's lives. Don't believe what the liberal politicians put out. Go out on the street and talk to some real people if you want to know the truth about drugs. My wife has told me a lot of sad stories over the years she has been teaching about children's lives that have been ruined by their parents doing drugs. A lot of kids are raised by their grandparents because their parents aren't fit to raise them. They're lucky if they have caring grandparents.
Legal drugs bought by patients through government programs and sold illegally on the streets is a major problem.
I don't understand many so called "liberals" who seem to believe that we should abandon our principles because our country and society hasn't been perfect throughout history. Our country has done a very good job of correcting past mistakes. It is up to the citizens to take it from there.
It's against everyone, now. Producers, transporters, sellers, users, acquaintances, and so on.
Government can solve problems with help from businesses and active citizens. Can't legislate prejudice away, but can diminish its impact.
Just to name a few:
NAFTA and pretty much every other free trade agreement. (Doesn't mean there aren't problems.)
Veteran's healthcare through the VA. (Doesn't mean there aren't problems.)
COBRA, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, SNAP/EBT, Section 8, etc. and other welfare benefits that have overall helped Americans. (Doesn't mean there aren't problems.)
Eradication of polio.
Expansion of vote to women and citizens of color.
Ending of slavery.
Desegregation.
Creation of the national parks.
Land Ordinance of 1785.
Homestead Act of 1862.
Public education. (Doesn't mean there aren't problems.)
Montgomery GI Bill and Post-9/11 GI Bill.
Public sanitation measures like water, trash disposal, and sewers.
Roads, canals, airports, communications, etc.
Worker safety initiatives.
It's not my PC world. I think systemic is a catch-all that includes institutional.
Wall will do nothing good.
Diminishing demand is the only way to fight drug use. But to do that, you'd have to go against far-right beliefs.