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October 24, 2008
Continuing Uncertainty
Given the recent decline of the American-led global economy and the undeniable unpopularity of the incumbent, we might be set up for a replay of 1932 were it not for the fact that the candidate challenging the party in power is the product of a biracial marriage and overwhelmingly perceived as “black.”With the election now less than two weeks away, polling results are still all over the place and obviously being manipulated by spin doctors of both parties, even as the Dow continues its saw-tooth march towards a “bottom” no pundit is willing to forecast publicly, but some concede could last “a long time” (a few are even mentioning the D word).
Even though the Democrats are generally conceded to be ahead, no one is claiming a slam dunk and a tight race is being predicted as their candidate takes time from the campaign to visit his ailing (white) grandmother in Hawaii.
All of which reinforces several points I’ve been pressing in this blog since it started. Historically, American drug policy has been a travesty that began modestly enough with a deceptive intrusion into medical practice in 1914, was expanded through a similar ploy in the late Thirties, and was then radically expanded by an insecure liar thirty-two years later.
The common denominators of our frightening economic plight and the drug war’s long-protected failures are the fears shared by most, (probably all) humans and the denial those fears inspire to a variable degree in everyone.
That some critics, including many pot smokers themselves, have to deny its palliative anxiolytic benefits becomes a bit more understandable in light of the present crisis in which economic pundits shy away from the “D” word, their political brethren minimize the influence of “Race,” and the federal government’s expenditure of billions to convince us that self-medicating our emotions with anything but caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine is both sinful and deserving of imprisonment.
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at October 24, 2008 07:09 PM