HEADLINING SUPPORT FOR PROHIBITION IN ALL ITS ABSTRACT GLORY

Who says George Will's writing about the drug war is tough to decipher?
Certainly not us at DrugSense Weekly, ahem, but headline composers at
newspapers across the country who had to title a recent work by the
syndicated columnist seemed to have different ideas on the ultimate point
of the piece.

( See http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n968/a03.html to read Will's
piece, which was published June 16 in many papers. )

The headlines conflicted in some cases. The Dayton Daily News asked, "Is
drug war worth fighting?" For the Washington Post, there was absolutely no
question: "Drug war worth fighting."

I found that stacking up several of the various headlines gave them a
poetic effect (in the sense of a Soviet-era agitprop poem) while neatly
encapsulating the circular arguments and half-hearted questions commonly
stressed by the mainstream press when it attempts to explore drug prohibition.

An appropriate title for the following headline collage might be: What does
George Will really think about the 'Drug war'?

Is the Drug War Worth Fighting

Despite Odds, Drug War Worth the Fight

Difficulty of Drug War No Reason to Give Up

This War Is Worth Fighting

Should There Be an Armistice on the Pot Front

This Is Not the Time for an Armistice in the 'War on Drugs'

Marijuana's Reputation Too Benign

We Should Not Give Up on the Drug War

Fighting Our Lesser Angels

Fighting 'War on Drugs'

Bush Drug Fighter Believes Effort Essential

Drug-War Leader Faces Tough Fight

Soldiering on in the War on Drugs

Drug War Necessary to Keep Better Angels Preponderant

Drug War's Naysayers Fail to See the Effort's Overall Worth

Pessimism About the 'War on Drugs'

The Anti-Drug Argument

War on Drugs Worth the Effort

Drug War Remains Paradox

That little conglomeration doesn't make much less sense than Will's
column. This is the way I interpret the column: Will's reason tells him
the drug war is a dismal failure, but his emotional fear of illegal drugs
doesn't want to believe it. So he ties the sweet-sounding lies of drug czar
John Walters into a obfuscated bundle, describes them as "Lincolnian" and
apparently hopes his smartest readers will understand his inner conflict.
He expressed his confusion, but in a way that no one will call him pro-drug.

Strangely, Will knows how to make a clear point when he wants to. In
today's column in the Chicago Sun-Times, Will lambastes "liberal" members
of the U.S. Supreme Court for failing to uphold individual property rights
in yesterday's eminent domain decision. The decision allows municipalities
to take private property, with compensation, if municipal leaders believe
the property can be used to generate more tax revenue under another owner.

Will waxes indignantly about the Bill of Rights, particularly the Fifth
Amendment. He writes: "Liberalism triumphed Thursday. Government became
radically unlimited in seizing the very kinds of private property that
should guarantee individuals a sphere of autonomy against government."

Of course, the drug war has been chipping away at the Fifth Amendment for
decades, but Will didn't mention that in his drug war column. And, when
government limits what you can do with your consciousness, that certainly
reduces an individual's autonomy against the government.

But Will can't just come out and say this is a bad thing. It doesn't even
need to show statistical success; the drug war's good intentions make it a
matter of "better angels" fighting "lesser angels."

Whose side are the better and lesser angels on in the battle over property
rights? It seems clear on that issue, Will feels he's with the angels,
while opponents have sided with the devil.

George Will is entitled to his opinion. He gets well compensated for it. I
even think he's correct about the eminent domain decision.

But, with his wishy-washy attitude toward the predatory nature of the drug
war, he shouldn't be surprised that government becomes more controlling and
invasive every day. If he thinks it's not wrong for the government to
restrict the rights of certain drug users, why shouldn't the government
determine that some property owners have less rights than others?

Notes:

To see a list of headlines, check out the first 25 results at
http://www.mapinc.org/author/Will+George .

To see a thorough dissection of Will's drug war column by Richard Cowan, go
to http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=828

To see Will's column about property rights, visit
http://www.suntimes.com/output/will/cst-edt-geo24.html