A few Libertarians supported Barack Hussein Obama for President this year, believing that he might be better on social issues. For instance, a majority of the Editorial Board of the Pro-Marijuana Reason Magazine when surveyed said they were "voting for Obama." Now one of Obama's first acts as President-elect has been to choose a strident Drug Warrior as his Attorney General.
A reader to Libertarian Republican blog has discovered a Washington Post article from 1996, where Holder vowed to crack-down on marijuana users in the District of Colubmia, and to treat marijuana possession as a serious crime.
From the Washington Post, Sept. 9, 1996:
In addition, U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. said in an interview that he is considering not only prosecuting more marijuana cases but also asking the D.C. Council to enact stiffer penalties for the sale and use of marijuana.Note - Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, who served in the 1990s, and former Republican Governor Bob Erlich of Maryland were both strong advocates of lessening penalties for marijuana use, at the same time Holder was calling for beefed up enforcement for the District."We have too long taken the view that what we would term to be minor crimes are not important," Holder said, referring to current attitudes toward marijuana use and other offenses such as panhandling.
Holder said he hopes to discourage some of that activity by being tougher on marijuana crimes. New guidelines should be in place by the end of the month, he said, noting "zero-tolerance" policy... including panhandling and public drinking, which gave officers an opportunity to check for drugs, guns and outstanding warrants.
"If you take these so-called minor crimes seriously and treat them fully, it has a ripple effect," Holder said.
Holder's plans for stricter enforcement of marijuana laws, and his proposal to increase the penalties for trafficking in marijuana, come at the same time that Montgomery County State's Attorney Andrew L. Sonner (D) has announced plans to treat more leniently low-level drug dealers and those found in possession of small amounts of drugs.
(h/t LR reader Stefan of L.A.)
11 comments:
Anthough I agree it is important to know where he stood 12 years ago, it's also important to know where he stands NOW. Do you have any RECENT statements about his position on drugs?
Perhaps he, as every politician in the world, just supported war on drugs because it was way popular back then...
Oh come on Hector.
No me digas esa caca de vaca, por favor hombre!
You're just spinning. This doesn't fit your Obama = good on civil liberties template, so all you can do is whine and make excuses.
Mentiras de un burro, son las cosas que vuele de la boca de ese pinche hombre Obama.
You already mentioned Holder's gun-grabbing ways, but he's an epic fail on many, many issues:
• Holder has declared that the “disastrous course" set by the Bush administration in the struggle against terrorism has to be reversed by closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and declaring without qualification that the United States does not torture people. But Holder downplayed concerns about using “secret evidence” against suspected terrorists when he was in the Justice Department
• According to Tim Lynch of the CATO Institute, Holder was responsible for pushing several liberty-killing anti-terrorism laws after the Oklahoma bombing
• Holder played a leading role in Bill Clinton’s pardon of billionaire fugitive Marc Rich. Some suspect that he might have with-held information about billionaire fugitive and tax evader, Marc Rich, to facilitate Rich’s pardon by President Clinton
• He is a drug warrior and who proposed to stiffen penalties for the possession of marijuana.
• He was also involved in the federal government’s decision to seize Elian Gonzalez from his aunt’s home and return him to Cuba without obtaining a court order, a terrible lapse of judgment
• There have been questions about whether he was completely upfront about the Justice Department’s conduct in the Waco fiasco.
I wonder when the Obamatards (Hope™ful libertarians included) will realize that they've been had.
Every pick Barry has made has been awful, starting with Biden. It's like the Clinton Administration all over again.
Gird your loins, folks!
I tell my pot smoking liberal friends that Democrats have done nothing to advance the right to smoke dope, whether for medicinal or recreational use. I see glazed over eyes (not from the pot, but from being so damn stupid) when I tell them libertarians are the only political group who are seriously working to decriminalize or legalizing both issues.
Being an advocate of reading history, one only has to get off their lazy ass and check out the damage that was done during prohibition, to understand what the "war on drugs" has done in modern era.
William, Rae, notice that we here at LR are the only ones mentioning this? Nothing at Reason on the news of the day - Eric Holder. Perhaps they're aware of the hypocrisy of their stance, having been moderately supportive of Obama, and now find that Obama just chose a big Drug Warrior for AG. This is a major slap in the face for Reason, since that's their big issue. Thus the complete deafening silence over there.
Eric, I still read Reason regularly, even though they often piss me off. The way I look at it is, if I agree with someone most of the time, and disagree part of the time, I'll still read what they have to say.
A good example is Sean Hannity. I agree with him on many issues, but when for example, he investigated the Bunny Ranch in Nevada, he tried to reason with the girls who work there that they SHOULD find other type of work, because in his mind, what they do is immoral. Well, that kind of bullshit crossed the line with me. So what though! He's still a good shit most of the time and I continue to listen to him now and then.
William, Rae, notice that we here at LR are the only ones mentioning this? Nothing at Reason on the news of the day - Eric Holder.
Oh no, Eric. Reason has been bitching about him all day.
Obama's Attorney General on Drugs (Weigel)
Breaking (From Yesterday!): Reason Foundation's Proactive No Vote on Eric Holder as Attorney General (Gillespie)
Eric Holder Nips Marijuana in the Bud and Invents a Time Cover Story (Sullum)
Still Waiting for that Hope and Change (Root)
"You're just spinning"
I know, I'm just making the point that politician's views change over the years.. Hell, McCain was supposed to be a fiscal conservative... Until he tried o suspend his campaign to make the bailout happen...
By the way, "caca de vaca" is not used in mexico as an expression... Try "chingaderas" or "mamadas"...
Dondero,
keep shinning on, you crazy diamond
Eric,
As usuall your wrong.
Reason's Hit and Run is all over Holder on several issues for the last day.
http://www.reason.com/blog/
William,
you're right about the marijuana issue. About a year ago, I almost died because I had lost so much weight that I was down to around 100 lbs. and I struggled to keep down what food I could convince myself to eat. I don't use marijuana, but I sure as hell started considering it. Perhaps if it was legal, then I wouldn't have had to worry about the legal issues and I could have simply focused on whether or not it would help me save my own life. The Democratic and Republican parties aren't willing to stand up for people like me who aren't going to use mind-altering drugs and then get behind the wheel of a car or operate heavy machinery, putting others in danger.
I hate smoking and I am grieved whenever I see someone who has developed cancer from years of smoking. Still, I think that adults should be free to do it, if they want to. The paranoia about drug abuse is one of the main reasons why so many seriously disabled people have trouble getting doctors to prescribe them with the medicine they need to alleviate their pain.
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