LIMBAUGH'S PLIGHT MAY CHANGE CONSERVATIVE VIEW

I've recently returned from the World Trade Organization protests in Mexico
- - a place where you can get the advice rather than the permission of a
doctor to buy things we here in the states called "prescription"
medications. While this may be surprising, there were no stacks of bodies
lying dead outside the pharmacies, no people twitching in the street as some
might expect.

Perhaps I was out in the sun a bit too long, but when I returned I was quite
surprised to hear that Rush Limbaugh was about to become the latest casualty
in our "war on drugs" - the focus of an investigation into the illegal
purchase of prescription medications. Once the realization took hold that in
this is a crime in the United States, the irony struck me: Here was the
"poster child" for American conservativism - a man loved by people who
believe we can't be trusted to make decisions about what to put into our own
bodies - sitting directly in the sights of the war machine his loyal
followers helped to create.

As a Libertarian I have often found the conservative viewpoints of Limbaugh
to be more than just a little offensive. Still, I don't want to rush to
judgment.

Perhaps Rush is guilty, in which case he may have to publicly come out
against the position of his beloved Republican party and admit that he
believes individuals should decide for themselves how to treat their bodies.
Perhaps he isn't guilty, in which case his plight will speak volumes to
conservatives about the helplessness experienced by innocent people when
they find themselves targeted by the oppressive federal drug enforcement
regime.

Either way, if Rush is to avoid hypocrisy he must eventually speak out
against the expensive, intrusive, unconstitutional and ultimately
anti-conservative "war on drugs." It's my sincere hope that his followers
will take note.

Shane Steinfeld

Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Metro Milwaukee

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