Comments by "Harry Mills" (@harrymills2770) on "How Progressive Policies Destroyed U.S. Cities | Michael Shellenberger | POLITICS | Rubin Report" video.

  1. Classical liberals distrust the government. Progressive liberals distrust their fellow man.
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  2.  @mattobermiller5041  You're both missing the point, which is just because it's bad doesn't mean laws against it make things better. In the end, it's a person's decision not to go that route. Meth and fentanyl are bound to go through the roof in one place where it's suddenly legalized where it's illegal everywhere else, because druggies will flock there, and actively recruit others to support their habit. But maybe you underestimate the extent of the problem before it was legalized or decriminalized. Maybe it just got easier to see and measure, because people aren't trying to hide it, any more. Hold people strictly accountable for their actions, whatEVER they put into their bloodstream! Instead of chasing drug dealers and making bad people rich and the police more militarized, and feeding the cycle of pain, we should look for ways to break that cycle. Maybe we should try to learn from Portugal's example. A "staunch Libertarian" should only want to enforce laws protecting persons and property. It's foolhardy to pass laws protecting people from themselves. Poverty programs and the war on drugs are a very toxic brew that isn't eliminated by doing what we've been doing. You're basically making Carrie Nation's argument for the Prohibition of Alcohol.
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  3. I don't think it needs to be a shrink. But yes. If it were legalized, there wouldn't be much or any money in selling it in the street. Legal or illegal, every human needs to take that journey, either staying away or weaning away. It's not something that can be done "for them, for their own good." Drugs are like a virus. Do you become an authoritarian to achieve herd immunity, or do you use more traditional, time-tested means? Think about what alcohol did to Native Americans. Then think farther back to what it did to Europeans for centuries BEFORE that. We kind of adjusted. Some still fell prey to drink, and still do, but most of us don't. We try to restrict minors getting it, with VERY limited success, but the culture just kind of handles it. Treatment's there for anybody who wants it, but we know from history that taking it on directly, through prohibition, just led to machine-gun fire in the streets. So before you get too into the idea of legalization being stupid. Think about what illegalization has brought us. Life isn't perfect. Life is trade-offs.
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  4.  @lxLanarchyxl  Excellent point(s) about fentanyl making legalization/decriminalization even more logical next step. Safe doses. Tax $$$ to support clinics and help whoever's ready for help, etc.
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  5. Democrat: "If you don't support my big government program to solve "x," then you don't want to solve the problem."
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  6. ... my big government program that will make me famous, put money in my cronies' pockets, and give this government another fiefdom with the will to expand.
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  7. A small number of high-strung people can freak and hyperventilate, if they're not used to the feeling, but it's pretty hard to smoke yourself into an overdose.
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