"When a government becomes powerful, it is destructive, extravagant and violent; it is an usurper which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance for votes with which to perpetuate itself." - Cicero
"Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force." - George Washington
"In all that people can do for themselves, the government ought not to interfere." - Abraham Lincoln
"The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power." - John Stuart Mill
"The government's role is whatever the government defines it to be." - Helen Clark

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Letter from Prison

Martha Stewart's letter from prison contains this observation:

I beseech you all to think about these women -- to encourage the American people to ask for reforms, both in sentencing guidelines, in length of incarceration for nonviolent first-time offenders, and for those involved in drug-taking. They would be much better served in a true rehabilitation center than in prison where there is no real help, no real programs to rehabilitate, no programs to educate, no way to be prepared for life "out there" where each person will ultimately find herself, many with no skills and no preparation for living.

Quite right. And as Tony Pierce points out:

It took jail time for Martha to see that drug reform is necessary. Maybe we should send congress to jail for a few months until they get it too.

Even if you disregard the massive costs of drug law enforcement, and the increase in violence that results from the drugs being illegal, you're still left with the fact that drugs are more widely available and cheaper than they were before the escalation of the 'Drug War'. I'm still undecided between retaining prohibition purely as a means of coercing people into treatment, and just legalizing everything and letting Darwin sort them out.

(link via Jeff Jarvis)