Pubdate: Thu, 30 Oct 2003
Source: Las Vegas Mercury (NV)
Copyright: 2003 Las Vegas Mercury
Contact:  http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2595
Author: Randall G. Shelden
Note: Randall G. Shelden is a professor of criminal justice at UNLV.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Rush+Limbaugh
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Bill+Bennett

HEY, RUSH, WHY DIDN'T YOU 'JUST SAY NO'?

What is the world coming to? During the past few months two of America's 
leading spokesmen for conservative beliefs have admitted they were addicts. 
First there was Bill Bennett, the man who has spent the past 20 years or so 
castigating those who have succumbed to various addictions, saying they 
merely made a choice and therefore must be punished.

Bill finally came clean and admitted he was addicted to gambling.

By the way, Bill, how's your cigarette addiction coming along?

And where have you been lately?

I've missed seeing you on "Larry King Live" and other talk shows, prancing 
about with your holier-than-thou attitudes, telling Americans how to live 
their lives.

Well, I hope you are doing well these days and have those two addictions 
under control.

I have no time for you now, since none other than Rush Limbaugh has 
admitted he is a drug addict.

Rush, as everyone knows, has been preaching his brand of conservatism over 
the AM airwaves for a long time now. As several books and commentaries have 
pointed out, most of what Rush has been saying is pure bullshit, but that 
doesn't matter, since his listeners, aptly named "dittoheads," don't care 
about factual evidence.

They just want to hear a lot of bombast against the dreaded "liberals" who 
are destroying the country with their loose morals.

But now Rush has shown that he is human after all by admitting he has a 
drug problem.

Don't get me wrong, for I have a great deal of sympathy for people with 
addictions. My liberal background and humanistic values are the reason for 
such sympathy.

I know, as all the experts have known, that addictions cannot be easily 
overcome with pure will. You cannot "just say no." Addictions arise from a 
variety of social, psychological and biological factors that play huge 
roles in our lives.

However, the conservative philosophy, with its firm belief in free will, 
cannot possibly handle such explanations. Behind this view is a view of the 
family that can be described as the traditional nuclear family with the 
father in control as the major breadwinner. There is, under this system, a 
"strict father morality" that is based in part on the belief that in order 
to become a "good" and "moral" person a child must learn to obey the rules 
and respect authority.

Proper behavior is taught through the use or threat of punishment. Within 
such a system the exercise of authority is itself moral; that is, it is 
moral to reward obedience and punish disobedience.

According to the conservative view, there is a "morality of strength." 
Moral strength can be seen as a metaphor.

The metaphor suggests that the world is divided into "good" and "evil," and 
in order to stand up to "evil" one must be morally strong, and one becomes 
morally strong through a system of rewards and punishments that teaches 
self-discipline. A person who is morally weak cannot fight evil. If one is 
too self-indulgent, he or she is immoral.

Welfare is immoral, as is crime and drug use, and therefore should be punished.

Therefore, it logically follows that crime and drug use are the result of 
moral weakness, a lack of self-control. A person with proper 
self-discipline should be able to "just say no" and those who do not must 
be and deserve to be punished.

Given this conservative belief system, you would expect that those who 
claim to be "conservatives" would apply these rules to themselves and "just 
say no" to addictions. Rush himself has said as much over the years. Here's 
one juicy quote from Rush: "Drug use destroys societies. Drug use, some 
might say, is destroying this country.

And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, 
importing drugs.

And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies 
and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are 
violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought 
to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."

It should be noted that such laws prohibit only certain kinds of drugs, 
such as pot, cocaine and heroin, but not tobacco (according to a recent 
survey, about 5 million died around the world from tobacco in the year 
2000), nor alcohol (which is responsible for at least 150,000 deaths each 
year). What the war-on-drugs proponents, like Rush, are talking about are 
drugs used by those who are poor or of a different skin color. They are the 
ones who are doing time in America's jails and prisons. They don't get 
treatment, they get jail time. And they are the ones who should have "just 
said no." Not people like Rush or Bill Bennett, nor all the others with 
money and power who become addicted.

They rarely see the inside of a prison cell. (There is some indication that 
Rush's possession of these painkillers may have been against the law, but 
we'll see if legal action is taken against him. I doubt it.)

Well, Rush, I wish you luck in overcoming your addiction.

It will take some time and hard work, but I am certain you will come 
through, since you can afford the best treatment in the country.

However, when you get cured and get back on the air again, try to change 
your hardened attitude toward the millions of poor folks who abuse drugs 
and even those who just use drugs casually but end up in prison anyway.

Try some real "compassionate conservatism" for a change.

Perhaps you can call upon one of the favorite lines from conservatives, 
namely, being "fiscally responsible" by not wasting taxpayer money on the 
drug war and expand treatment options.

It sure saves a lot of money in the long run, as you conservatives like to say.

When you get cured and get back on the air again, Rush, try to change your 
hardened attitude toward the millions of poor folks who abuse drugs and 
even those who just use drugs casually but end up in prison anyway.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake