ABC is debuting its new show “Homeland Security USA” tonight at 8pm eastern time. Presumably the show is intended to make us all proud to be an American. If the previews are any indication, I won’t be feeling very proud.
Many of the preview segments focus on busting drug runners, probably because it makes for very good television. Cutting open a Ford Contour at the border and finding bundles of some sort of drug has a sort of “gotcha” appeal. The appeal of high-speed boat chases doesn’t need to be explained.
Seeing criminals caught red-handed (think “America’s Most Wanted”) is usually satisfying, but when it’s for the victimless crime of transporting drugs, there’s little to be excited about.
By creating black markets for cocaine, heroine, and other drugs, the “War on Drugs” has helped only criminals. By making drugs hard to come by, prices have gone up. Making substances that were once available at any drugstore worth their weight in gold. Just like alcohol prohibition created Al Capone and the modern mafia, the drug war has fueled organized crime and created urban gang violence. Protecting the turf where drugs are sold has caused violence to escalate, hurting countless people not involved in the drug trade and tearing apart our inner cities.
So, seeing federal agents chase down a drug smuggler, beat him, and arrest, him doesn’t fill me with patriotic fervor.
The rest of the show concerns itself with Homeland Security’s role is policing our borders not for illegal things, but illegal people. The clip shown on the website shows an officer saving us from the menace of a woman trying to work in the US without a proper work Visa. How dare she!
The comic tragedy of the interaction between the agent and this Visa-less woman is her would-be profession: she wants to be a belly dancer.
Surely America can afford to have one belly dancing gig go to a foreigner!
It’s thinking of tragedies and absurdities like these that sap what patriotism I have left.
I hope Americans see this show and sees it for what it is, a naked admission of just how out of control government has become.
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This Cord Blomquist post is like something a child would write. One person coming here illegally is nothing, but when millions do it it's an indication of corruption, and that has an incredibly huge cost. And, millions of people coming here from one country gives that country a great deal of political power inside our country, yet another huge cost.
For more information, see this:
http://24ahead.com/s/mexican-government
Glorified Wal-Mart greeters getting their own TV show. How sweet!
Except that real Wal-Mart greeters actually contribute to society…..
That so many are willing to enter this nation illegally is an indicator of how distorted our immigration policies are. Whenever you criminalize a perfectly normal–even beneficial–activity such as immigration, there are bound to be some negative consequences. But even when the downside of illegal immigration is taken into account, the influx of affordable labor is most certainly something we should welcome.
Actually, the fact that illegal immigration is allowed has distorted our policies; for instance, without all that serf labor there'd be a push for mechanization. Because of the availability of cheap labor, that's disfavored.
And, I note that you're willing to give a foreign government political power inside our country so that a small number of people can make money. Can I suggest that Somalia is beautiful this time of year?
Our immigration policy is distorted, and it does us no good. The fault lies with the xenophobic minority that has an unhealthy obsession with ethnic identity. Because of their single minded intransigence on this issue, it is easier for politicians to pursue a policy of “look the other way” rather than to do the work that would be necessary to define an approach that would serve our interests as well as those of our fellow North and South Americans for the benefit of us all.
The ACLU has done a lot of significant work in the past few years countering some of the worse of the know-nothing excesses on this issue. ACLU PA stands out in particular. They kick ass!
http://www.aclupa.blogspot.com
Cord, thank you very much for this article! The war on drugs… The war on terror… The war on people…
http://www.allposters.com/View_HighZoomResPop.a...
Alan, you've been kind to me lately. Thanks for the comments.
I see from ur article you are being a good party globalist and toeing the party line. Best be careful before you get throw on the other side of the border. It happened to Benedict Arnold. Actually we've put in our orders for pitchforks and torches for folks like you. We're still awaiting there arrival in nervous anticipation. You're walking where even Angels fear to tread.
Tell me Cord, do u do the nose candy thing?
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Sometimes, I just don’t know what to think anymore.