Enlightenment in Pensacola

I've lived in northwest Florida, affectionately known hereabouts as "America's Taint™," for almost two months now on this probably-temporary sojourn, and I've seen and read some pretty wacky right-wing garbage. So imagine my surprise to find a sane voice in the wilderness -- someone who actually "gets it," and who undoubtedly is raising the ire of the batshit crazy fundies and wingnuts in the area: Pensacola News Journal columnist Reggie Dogan.

Yesterday, Dogan dared to publish a column that was enlightened, well-reasoned, factual, and persuasive. This, naturally, means the fundies and wingnuts predictably won't be able to understand it, and what they don't understand, they attack vociferously (if vaguely and misguidedly). They'll hate it not so much because it's right, but because they think adopting its ideas might lead to the End of Life As We Know It ... yes, I'm talking about the legalization of drugs and prostitution. Take it away, Reggie*:

There is neither enough money nor manpower to track down, arrest and prosecute all drug dealers and prostitutes.

It is a waste of money and misuse of manpower, both of which could be better suited to chasing down and locking up violent offenders.

Prostitution and mind-altering drugs have been around for centuries. You can't stop it; you can only try to contain it.

One only has to look at history to see the folly of arresting people for consensual crimes, like drug abuse and prostitution. The sale and manufacture of alcohol was made a consensual crime during Prohibition. America still drank plenty of booze.

When alcohol was legalized again, the United States made plenty of money by taxing the sale of it.

It could do the same with drugs and prostitution.

If consensual crimes were legal, it would not only save America money, it would help it earn more. The Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates that Americans spend about $66 billion a year on drugs alone. This money does not usually enter the regular economy, but stays in the black market of drugs.

Not only could America tax consensual crimes if they were legal, it could also regulate them. The government would have to impose health standards, thus making the drugs and prostitution safer than they would be on the streets.

The laws seem to be in place to promote some sort of national morality. Well, there is no national morality.

It is time that our government stop treating its citizens like they are irresponsible children.

The people should be the ones to decide if they want to use drugs or buy sex, not the government and the church or antiquated laws and outdated mores.

Hoo boy, I can't wait for the fundies to get a hold of that, especially the last sentence. I can hear them now as they sit down at their computers to dash off a scathing letter to the editor: "Hey, Ellie Mae, how do ya turn this dang thing on?"

Seriously, though, while Dogan's ideas are hardly new, they'll do nothing in this community but stir up the pot (no pun intended) and get the righties ranting on the moral degradation of society, yadda, yadda. The intelligence and sensibility of legalization of these victimless crimes is directly proportional to the foaming-at-the-mouth fervor with which the Bible-thumping imbeciles here in the hinterlands will oppose it with all their might.

Sure, we all want to Save the World and come up with the solutions to our economic and cultural woes. The only difference is, the wingnuts won't tolerate anything but their world -- a world of ignorance, intolerance, Christian fanaticism, and hypocrisy. And so, around here at least, reasonable people like Reggie Dogan must feel like they're shouting at a brick wall.

---

* By way of explanation for readers, Brownsville, mentioned in the column, is a Pensacola neighborhood plagued by crime.