A Very Bad Precedent.

The voters in Oregon have done something that I consider sets a very dangerous precedent. You can see the story: here

As a Libertarian, I believe that "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys". (Cato Fellow PJ O'Rourke)

First of all, if they have a $727,000,000 deficit for a two year budget, there's a problem. Let's be honest: greedy, looting governments never get enough - and it's all in the name of the "public good". They need to do some serious cost-cutting before demanding more. They should be ashamed to be demanding more. I think there are better options. Apparently more money is spent on prisons than on education. That, to me, is wrong. For many reasons. So, here is one solution:

I read some time ago that 1/100 Americans is in jail. That, to me, is far too high a number - and I bet that most of those stem from drugs. So, the first step is make marijuana and other drugs controlled substances. I have no problem with drugs being legal. As a Libertarian, I believe as long as you don't violate any one else's rights, you should be allowed to do as you please. Therefore, as long as your drug habit doesn't drive you to breaking and entering, etc. you should have the freedom to waste your life doing drugs if you so choose. People may cry, "Oh but what about the carnage to families?" I say, look at the carnage that the DEA has done to families by throwing people in prison for 90 years for marijuana - a drug that more than half the population believes should be legal.

So, if you make drugs legal, you have need of a LOT less prisons and no DEA (which has far too much power as it is - talk about teenage boys with whiskey and car keys). You can tax the sale of the drugs, and the tax revenue from the drugs and the savings from closing the prisons and DEA can go back to education, or better yet returned to the public that it was looted from.

Taxpayers are maxed out and the looting has to stop. Yes, public education is important, but I sometimes wonder if those in education sometimes play on parents' vulnerable heartstrings a little too much. There is NO excuse for a $727,000,000 deficit. They need to live within their means and start spending as if it was their money - and not someone else's.