war on drugs | The Liberty Conservative

November 2, 2017November 2, 2017 in Law/Politics

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Doesn’t Believe In The Tenth Amendment

Federal government officials who believe in the Constitution and limited government are generally a rarity. In modern American politics, the federal level is expected to do most things in society. Lower level governments from state to municipal are merely administrative extensions to the will of the top. It’s the type of structure that is contrary to the vision laid out by our founders, and the natural downfall of any republic. In recent decades, this has accelerated. In the post-9/11 America, former President George W. Bush used the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 to massively grow the federal government.… Keep Reading

October 5, 2017October 5, 2017 in Law/Politics

Five Reasons Libertarians Can Support Judge Roy Moore

I worked as Roy Moore’s staff attorney for over three years and know him well. Depicted as a right-wing loon, he’s actually a pensive man who authored thoughtful opinions as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Five opinions written by Moore stand out as reasons libertarians could support him in the Alabama primary to fill the U.S. Senate seat once held by Jeff Sessions. Like most of his opinions, these received little fanfare or notice. Keep Reading

July 24, 2017July 23, 2017 in News

As Hillary Remains Free, Attorney General Jeff Sessions Focuses On Failed Drug War

When Donald Trump was campaigning for President last year, thousands of Americans chanted “LOCK HER UP!” throughout the country referring to his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Once elected, Trump supporters expected Attorney General Jeff Sessions to follow the campaign’s mandate and proceed to investigate Clinton for her e-mails, Libyan war crimes, and other atrocities she has committed over the years. Instead of fulfilling the Trump mandate, Sessions has gone rogue. He is pursuing his decades-long fetish of marijuana prohibition and working feverishly with the intent of doubling-down on possibly the most destructive policy in modern American history: the federal drug war.… Keep Reading

July 18, 2017July 20, 2017 in Economics/Politics

The Tragedy of the Commons in the Prison System

In a previous article, I wrote about how the war on drugs and the government monopoly on the legal system has created the Tragedy of the Commons in our justice system. Because legislators and police officers have every incentive to appear “tough on crime” but the cost of the sending a criminal to a courtroom is socialized, the courts have become increasingly backlogged. What that article did not cover is the related “commons problem” in the prison system and the consequences that follow. Where legislators and police officers have in-built incentives to send as many people through the courts as… Keep Reading

July 17, 2017 in News

Attorney General Jeff Sessions to Double Down on Federal Civil Asset Forfeitures

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was a notorious drug warrior while serving in the Senate. Those hoping that President Donald Trump, who actually supported the full legalization of drugs in the past, would reign Sessions in have had their hopes dashed as Sessions announced today that federal civil asset forfeitures will expand during the Trump administration. “[W]e hope to issue this week a new directive on asset forfeiture—especially for drug traffickers,” Sessions said to a National District Attorneys Association conference in Minneapolis Monday. “With care and professionalism, we plan to develop policies to increase forfeitures. No criminal should be allowed to… Keep Reading

May 14, 2017May 14, 2017 in Politics

Libertarian Lawmakers Criticize Trump Administration’s Support of Mandatory Minimum Policies

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) are up in arms after Attorney General Jeff Sessions released sentencing guidelines last week indicating his favor of mandatory minimum sentences that were being phased out by the Obama administration. The two libertarian lawmakers have been long-time advocates for criminal justice reform. They feel that the Trump Administration under Sessions is clearly headed in the wrong direction on this particular policy, which will only serve to clog the prisons further while doing little to prevent crime. “Mandatory minimum sentences have unfairly and disproportionately incarcerated too many minorities for too long,” Paul… Keep Reading

April 28, 2017April 29, 2017 in Politics

The First One Hundred Days is a Meaningless Metric

The first one hundred days of a new president’s presidency is a media gimmick created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933. I’ll skip right to the important part: It was a crock of shit then and it’s an even bigger crock of shit now. It’s an artifice meant to distract from more important things, such as the fact that the effects of policy-making often do not become evident until long after they are implemented. It took years for the deregulation of craft brewing to reap dividends and when it did Reagan’s economy took credit while Carter pounded sand. Like many… Keep Reading

January 11, 2017January 12, 2017 in Culture/Economics/Politics

Relax, Hippies: Jeff Sessions as Attorney General Isn’t the End of the World

The hypocritical liberals are sounding the alarms about Jeff Sessions being President Trump’s pick for Attorney General. Suddenly and conveniently, they care about civil liberties and the rule of law again now that they have lost political power. Nevertheless, they are blowing smoke and relying on ignorance to push their tired agenda. The George Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is especially ham-fisted in their nauseating “analysis” of the appointment. Purportedly a nonpartisan group, their true colors were shown after they released a ridiculous screed filled with so much nonsense that looks as if it was drafted by John Podesta himself: Keep Reading