THE NETROVERT - INFORMATION ON POLITICS EASY TO GET

The Internet is changing the face of American politics.

The culture of sound bites and spin doctors that has dominated the
electoral follies for generations is beginning to lose its influence.

The Internet gives voters a new way to acquire political information,
independent of the moneyed interests that have had such a corrupting
influence on the process.

Consider, for example, that on the Internet, the war on drugs was lost a
long time ago.

Online, it's very difficult to find someone to defend this massively
destructive and massively expensive social experiment, and impossible to
find someone who can defend it ably.

The drug warriors have nothing but reefer madness propaganda to support
their position, and on the Internet, with its instantaneous access to
scientific materials, this is an overwhelming disadvantage.

Polls conducted among Internet users show a huge majority want to end the
war, and a lot of them have set up polished and professional Web sites
dedicated to that purpose.

One particularly good one is the Media Awareness Project
http://www.mapinc.org/ - which collects and archives news on the war.

A while back, for example, the site recorded a truly astonishing example of
political stupidity on the part of Steve Forbes, the man who would be
America's CEO.

It seems that the good citizens of Washington, D.C., were entertaining a
petition to permit the medical use of marijuana. Evidently Forbes saw this
as a golden opportunity to establish his drug warrior credentials.

He made the usual arguments, assuring us that allowing the sick and dying
to smoke pot without fear of incarceration would lead inevitably to the
collapse of civilization.

That's all well and good, from a political viewpoint. Lots of voters
believe the same thing.

But then Forbes goofed. He claimed that "well-financed legalization forces"
want to "make America safe for Colombian-style drug cartels."

The drug lords' greatest fear is that we might end the war, and take away
the countless untaxed billions they have come to expect as their due.

That Steve Forbes is apparently ignorant of this basic economic fact does
not argue well for his candidacy. If he doesn't understand that
"legalizers" and drug lords are the bitterest of enemies, how will he ever
grasp the more subtle aspects of statecraft?

His opponents in the primaries will, unfortunately, never take him to task
for his foolish remarks.

In American politics, to criticize even the most obviously deranged drug
war rhetoric is to leave yourself open to the charge that you're "soft on
drugs."

That accusation can be fatal to your career, and few politicians are brave
when their career is at risk.

But the Internet is slowly flooding America's political grassroots. It's
becoming America's political memory, and it never forgets. Voters can now
share their opinions directly with thousands of other voters, cheaply and
efficiently.

Some of them are going to be wondering if it's really such a good idea to
elect a dullard to the highest office in the land, even if they like his
political philosophy.

© 1998 Northwest Florida Daily News