As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” So just what exactly has the US government been doing to fight terrorism with this new found fear-mongering enforced power? Spying on Muslim Americans, of course. FBI documents obtained by civil rights groups reveal extensive systematic surveillance programs on mosques were conducted by the FBI with absolutely zero cause of suspension, and finding absolutely zero wrongdoing by the Muslim community (Huus). It seems the First Amendment clause regarding the freedom to practice all religion does not extend very far from Christianity. Then of course, there is the piece bureaucratic waste known as the TSA. With very little evidence that the agency has actually stopped an attack, these government workers work to keep passengers “safe” through extensive pat …show more content…
President Ronald Reagan’s war on drugs was an absolute failure that has resulted in tens of thousands of non-violent criminals being placed in the same federal prisons as murderers and rapists. In fact, these non-violent offenders make up a little over fifty percent of the prison population. Most of the taxpayer money spent on keeping these people in prison can easily go to treating addiction had drugs simply been decriminalized. In 2001, Portugal had decriminalized all drugs and found that there were little to none adverse effects on drug usage. In fact, drug related pathologies such as STDs and drug related deaths had actually decreased (Greenwald). Some drugs such as marijuana has almost no major side effects, and the legalization and taxing of it can easily both benefit the government, and take power away from the drug cartels. Economist Milton Friedman once said, “If you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug
In 1971, President Richard Nixon initiated the national War on Drugs, which focused on the passage of policies geared toward fighting illegal substances (Amundson, Zajicek, and Hunt, 2014). During this time, Nixon allocated two-thirds of federal dollars for treatment of drug addiction and prevention of new users and one-third of federal dollars for interdiction and enforcement (Amundson et al., 2014). After Nixon’s initial War on Drugs program, policies and programs began to shift. Under the Regan Administration, the War on Drugs became more punitive and there was a reversal of federal dollars. Under the new and subsequent regimes, two-thirds of money was spent on interdiction and enforcement and one-third was spent on treatment and prevention (Amundson et al., 2014). Under this new Administration came tougher sentencing, an increase in prison spending, and mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offenses (Amundson et al.,
Benjamin Franklin wrote, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
As Benjamin Franklin once said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety”. In Benjamin Franklin’s quote is saying that if someone gives up the necessary liberty to receive safety that means they do not deserve neither safety nor liberty. Safety can be defined as the state of being safe; freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury, danger, or loss. It can also be defined as the quality of averting or not causing injury, danger, or loss. In modern day safety is prominent in the society, safety has even been questioned in today’s society.
In the past 40 years, the American government has spent more than $2.5 trillion dollars on the war against drugs. The huge expenditure has been coupled by numerous the ad campaigns, clean-up on smuggling, and increase in illicit drug users and incarceration rates. Actually, the increase in illicit drug users currently stands at 19.9 million in the United States with huge supplies from Mexico. With the increase in both the expenditure and number of illegal drug users, there have been huge concerns regarding the country's war on drugs. The main question is why the United States can continue spending much money on this war while it can legalize and tax the supply of drugs. The most appropriate and effective measure for tackling the problem of drugs is through legalizing and collecting taxes than spending huge amounts in stopping the flow of the commodities to America.
After losing 2,977 lives one fateful September morning, we realized we left the doors to our country wide open to attack. As a result, we ramped up our security and instituted new programs to combat terrorism to make ourselves invulnerable to similar attacks. But as the government began to develop programs within the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) to prevent such an attack from ever happening again, the government began to infringe on the rights which were laid down in the Constitution by our founding fathers. Although the American government protected its people from another possible attack, the government itself attacked its own people by denying the rights which it formerly recognized.
As a major policy issue in the United States, the War on Drugs has been one of the most monumental failures on modern record. At a cost of billions of taxpayer dollars, thousands of lives lost and many thousands of others ruined by untreated addiction or incarceration, America's policy orientation concerning drug laws is due for reconsideration. Indeed, the very philosophical orientation of the War on Drugs and of the current drug policy in the United States has been one of prosecution and imprisonment rather than one of decriminalization, treatment and rehabilitation. As our medical and scientific communities characterize addiction as a disease, the United States government continues to characterize this disease as a crime. And in doing so, it has created an unnecessary criminal class in the United States. The research, supplemental political cartoons and proposed research will set out to prove that stiffer drug laws will only have the impact of criminalizing countless drug addicts who might otherwise benefit substantially from rehabilitation and other treatment-based strategies. With a specific focus on the prohibition of marijuana even for medical use, and using the Toulmin model for putting forth and completing the argument, the research will set out to demonstrate the irrational
The so called war on drugs potentially causes the American Taxpayer a loss of more than 20-50 billion annually and there are very little results that can be said satisfactory. This does not include the massive amounts of money that United States pays to a number of countries in South America in order to facilitate the curbing of drugs. Furthermore, an alarming number of inmates held in our prisons happen to be drug abuse offenders. Currently the 55% people incarcerated in the federal prisons happen to be drug offenders while the ratio of same people in the state prisons is 25% (Roffman, 7). Such a huge number of drug inmates have the potential of putting a great amount of stress on the system and has serious implications for the economic growth of the whole country. In such circumstances it is quite obvious that the American “war on drugs” has failed to yield the desired objective and more or less can be considered a failure. Decriminalization and treatment have emerged as very powerful alternatives in the recent years to win the war against the
Today’s world is changing at a rapid pace. Things never thought to be possible are becoming very real. One of the popular subjects of wanting change is the legalization of drugs. There has already been a small amount of change in the drug legalization process with marijuana now being legal in a few of the states. Vanessa Baird in her work “Legalize Drugs- all of them!” argues for the legalization and decriminalization of drugs. John P. Walters counters Baird’s argument for legalization in his piece “Don’t Legalize Drugs.” Both authors take an extended look into the harsh reality of the drug war and the small progress it has made since it began.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, once said “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” In America’s society today, some are willing to sacrifice their civil liberties in order to gain protection and security over some potential threat. Especially after the events of September 11th and several attempted bombings in U.S. cities. This sacrifice of individual freedoms such as the freedom of speech, expression, the right to information, to new technologies, and so forth, for additional protection is more of a loss than a gain. Citizens of the United States deserve equal liberty and safety overall, as someone should not have to give up
In 1784, Benjamin Franklin stated, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." It is hard to say whether or not Benjamin Franklin is right due to the fact that we face different struggles in this day and age that people in Napoleon Bonaparte’s and Franklin’s era did not have to worry about. Our situations regarding security and freedom, especially after September 11, 2001, dramatically changed as citizens realized how often their everyday lives were jeopardized with each new discovery and invention concerning weapons or violence.
Those who give up liberty for the sake of security deserve neither liberty nor security
1188). Per Hart and Ksir (2015) the government drug control efforts have made no change on drug use during the last decade. “The supplies of cocaine, heroin and marijuana have not dried up; in fact, they have increased” (Hart & Ksir, 2015, p. 71). Becker and Murphy (2013), University of Chicago economics professors, refer to the “War on Drugs” as a long and enormously destructive policy experiment that we all should push to an end. For a possible end to the “War on Drugs,” they suggest to decriminalize all drug possession like Portugal since 2001. Likewise, Hart and Ksir (2015) refers to Portugal to point out how other groups have suggested that the approach may work for the United states focusing on providing money for prevention and treatment instead on for more prisons. This has led states such as Colorado and Washington to turn against the “War on Drugs” decriminalizing marijuana making it legal not only for medical but also for recreational use.
The war on drugs has been a failure. The war on drugs has failed because the government spends millions of dollars on trying to stop people from using drugs but the government has not stopped them from using them. The government has spent 1 trillion since Nixon declared war on drugs and 51 billion dollars each year from incarcerating people. A total of 2.3 million people are in prison for drug related crimes. This is more than anywhere else in the planet. Drug use and overdoses are still the same. Many people say that if drugs were to be legalized, drug use would increase dramatically. This was not the case in Portugal. Portugal decided to decriminalize all drugs in 2001. Many people feared that this would collapse the country, but in fact the opposite happened. Prisons were not overrun anymore. It is safer for the government to decriminalize all drugs because this way all the drugs are not in the hands of the drug dealers, they are in the hands of the government. This is safer and better because now the government knows who is buying the drugs and how much that individual is using. The consumer also knows what he or she is consuming. This is not the case with the drug dealers where an individual does not know what he or she is getting. Many people say it is not fair for people to go to jail for nonviolent crimes such as
The use of drugs has been an issue for decades, but in 2001 Portugal decided to take the lead and decriminalize the use of drugs. By doing so they have been able thus far to drop down the drug overdose rate, prevent the spread of drug related diseases and have been able to steer the money more to helping people with treatments rather than incarcerations. It is now treated as a health issue rather than a criminal one. Although drugs are still illegal in Portugal if caught with them you are offered treatment rather than incarceration because it’s drugs are now the least common cause of death in Portugal. By decriminalizing all drugs, governments can minimize overdose rates, stop the spread of drug-related diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, and spend less money by offering drug offenders treatment versus incarceration.
The war on drugs was officially declared on June 1971 by President Nixon, when he dramatically increased the presence of federal drug control agencies, and pushed through measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants. Many believe it is the number one issue in the United States today. The cost of this war has been lives, money, and the respect for law enforcement. The war on drugs has had little to no positive effects, while the decriminalization of drugs has many benefits. Citizens should inform themselves of everything our country could benefit from by simply decriminalizing what has been the cause of close to most incarcerations in federal and state prisons. There is no doubt that the war on drugs has a severe impact on the economy of our country. Drug criminalization is a multi-edged sword; the monetary costs, the loss of those who are lawfully employed in the labor market, and the deterioration of the relationships between the community and law enforcement.