Mexicans dying in our drug war

College students have officially been warned now that it would be dangerous to celebrate (if that's the right word) Spring Break south of the border in Mexico, because the level of violence is so alarming. The reason is that thr Mexican government, largely at the behest of the U.S. government (and with partial funding from U.S. taxpayers), has decided to get really serious about the Holy War on Drugs and really go after those producers, traffickers and dealers. While this has disrupted a few of the cartels, leading to struggles for power -- which are settled by gun battle rather than quiet negotiations among honchos and lawyers, as would be the case with legal substances -- it has also led many traffickers to shoot back and target police, mayors and other officials. Of course innocents and children are getting caught in the crossfire.

The best way to quell the violence, of course, would be to end the drug war by respecting the right of adults to decide what substances to put in their own bodies. As far as I know, only my colleague Steven Greenhut at the Register, Ted Carpenter at Cato, and I, in my most recent column for Antiwar.com, have put forward this eminently sensible and just approach. I look forward to somebody challenging us on the merits, but I don't expect it; the merits are simply too obvious. But I also don't expect common sense to prevail. On this issue, differently from medical marijuana raids in states with medical marijuana laws (about which Obama made a verifiable campaign promise several times) I expect Eric Holder's inner drug warrior to prevail.

Leaving St. Paul as an ex-Republican

Here's a link to Steve Greenhut's column written after spending a week with the official Republicans in St. Paul. He's been moving in that directions for some time, but it loo0ks as if he's leaving the Republicans behind, at least unless they reform themselves in the kinds of directions a Ron Paul might take them. It's been interesting to watch Steve's evolution. He's been a pretty strong libertarian since he came to the Register but believed that the best way to express his beliefs politically was within the Republican Party. Now the party has drifted so far in a statist direction -- accelerated when it had control of both the legislative and executive branches -- and become so fixated on cultural issues that are simply none of the government's business, that he's had enough.

Greenhut in St. Paul

Not to be too repetitive, but my colleague Steve Greenhut is in St. Paul for the Republican convention (Mark Landsbaum just got back from Denver) and is posting fairly frequently on the Register's Orange Punch blog. I'll chip in too from time to time. Check it out.

Not much respect for liberty in St. Paul

Wanna see an example of libertarian funk? Steve Greenhut in our Register office is the natural-born pessimist of the group, whereas I am the cockeyed optimist always seeing things as evidence that the state is withering away. Anyway, Steve is going to the Republican convention in St. Paul, and here's his preview column, full of woe. Based on the nominee, the speakers and the general tone, he doesn't see much hope for anything resembling a politics of liberty from the Republicans. I gave up on the Republicans years ago, so I'm not feeling quite as specifically pessimistic this year.

Election update

It's not that I'm uninterested in the election. I have a love-hate relationship with politics that includes a lifelong fascination with the electoral process -- although I'm convinced "democracy" is this era's version of the "divine right ot kings:" al slogan to dupe the peasants into granting some shred of legitimacy to the brutes who rule over us. I think that perspective gives me a certain detachment when analyzing the machinations of the contending brutes.

Right now the election is in a bit of a doldrum period, but I'm blogging about it pretty steadily at the Register's Horserace'08 election blog, so if you're interested you might want to check into it. At this point it's not part of the Register's coverage plan for me to attend either convention; Steve Greenhut and Mark Landsbaum are slated to divide the two while I stay in the home office. I've always found conventions fascinating, but I'll get along just fine.