Random Thoughts About Politics, Combed From The Newspaper

I. Bolivia seeks expanded market for legal coca products

Evo Morales, ally of Hugo Chavez, and hence at risk of becoming anathema to the U.S., is trying to establish a larger global market for coca leaf products in forms other than illegal narcotics, by means of overturning a U.N. ban on exporting legal coca products.

Naturally, the U.S. disapproves, expressing concerns about the effect on the war on drugs, because, you know, the war on drugs has been going so well. Just like the war on poverty.

Cocaine and the illegal drug trade are problems, for sure. I'm not saying we should allow unlimited drug production. But it seems to me that we should be very supportive of efforts to find other uses of coca leaf that would benefit Bolivia, not just a multinational corporation based in Atlanta.

To quote President Morales, "How is it that coca leaf is legal for Coca-Cola but industrialization for Bolivia and the coca leaf itself are penalized?" Coca-Cola, surprisingly enough, enjoys an exemption from the ban on exported coca leaves.

It is logical to assume that giving Bolivia the opportunity to profit from legal exports of coca leaf products would increase Bolivia's economic prosperity. And with increased economic prosperity from legal methods, the incentive to produce cocaine would be undercut, although human greed for money would keep it alive.

After decades of Monroe Doctrine-sponsored interference and exploitation in the Latin America economic spheres, it is our ethical responsibility to support this effort. And it would have practical benefits as well. An increasingly prosperous Latin America could become an important trade partner. There is no inherent reason why we can not change our adversarial relationship with an increasingly influential Chavez government in Venezuela into a mutually beneficial association.

It is time to stop trying to score political points by focusing primarily on The War On Drugs and find a better solution to the root causes of economic need.


II. Political Points, Volume II

Who didn't see this coming?

After all the Republican shouting about stepping up enforcement of illegal immigration and getting rid of all the low cost labor, the administration has to turn around and try to let the workers back in.

Wouldn't it have been more efficient to follow this approach in the first place?

Yes, it would have been. Congress attempted to address the economic reality of the needs for labor, but conservative politicians bent on scoring political points by shouting "Amnesty" derailed those efforts.

The politics of fear can come with a cost. Unfortunately, most politicians who play the politics of fear don't suffer the repercussions, because they have their livelihoods assured.


III. A Comedy of Errors

Doesn't it seem like the Republican candidates are stuck in a rut of shooting themselves in the foot? How many bullets can they take before they have to fall over, unbalanced by all the lead in their loafers?

First of all, the top four candidates, Giuliani, Thompson, Romney, and McCain, skipped a debate at Morgan State University, a debate aimed at addressing minority issues. And earlier in September, all Republican candidates save McCain backed out of a Spanish-language debate aimed at Hispanics. So much for improving their image in terms of being a party of inclusion.

And then no Republican accepted an invitation to address the National Teachers Union, which subsequently endorsed Hillary Clinton. For a party that espouses a belief in family values, you think they would pay more attention to education.

And Fred Thompson, whose belated candidacy has been quite clumsy, in my opinion, tried to make a joke about government spending, as the Republicans tried to outdo each other in saying they would spend no money whatsoever for any reason and could fund the war, education, and everything else through, I don't know, having people go shopping more? Anyway, Fred Thompson tried to attack Congress by saying that when he was a Senator, he once "accidentally spent his own money."

Which is kind of like a guy telling a girl, "Yes, back when I was in college, we would try so many lame lines to get a girl into bed. Man, we were immature back then. I've really grown up since then."