Why America owes Rush Limbaugh a debt of gratitude
Posted in NtheDrgWar by R Lee Wrights on February 5th, 2007 by Joseph Seehusen
Rush Limbaugh’s ordeal has exposed every drug warrior in America as a rank hypocrite, and for that the entire nation owes him a debt of gratitude.
One thing we don’t hear from American politicians very often is silence, especially where the drug war is concerned.
Yet when the story broke that Limbaugh was being investigated on suspicion for illegally procuring enough OxyContin pain medication “to kill a horse,” as his housekeeper described it, we heard hardly a peep from the usual tough-on-crime crowd in Washington, DC.
No doubt that it would be difficult for Republicans to picture the man who President Bush invited to spend a night in the Lincoln Bedroom and who former House Speaker Newt Gingrich made an honorary member of the Republican class of 1994 wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.
Yet by refusing to demand that Limbaugh suffer the same fate as every other drug offender, drug warriors have just been exposed as shameless, despicable hypocrites. And that’s good news, because the next time they do speak up, there’ll be no reason for anyone to listen.
The fact is that Republican and Democratic politicians have written laws that have condemned more than 400,000 Americans to prison for committing the same “crime” as Limbaugh. The central premise is that addicts like Limbaugh pose a threat to society because they will cheat, steal and even kill to get their next fix.
Never mind that neither Limbaugh, nor the vast majority of the other 400,000 nonviolent offenders, ever did any of these things. Most were living fairly normal lives and not harming anyone except maybe themselves until the government dragged them off to prison, destroying their lives, their families and their careers in the process.
Last time I checked, the Florida legal code that imposes a five- year prison term for illegally procuring prescription drugs contains no exceptions for popular, politically connected talk show hosts.
So if this pill-popping pontificator deserves a get-out-of-jail- free card, these drug warriors had better explain why.
Given their longstanding support for the Drug War, it’s fair to ask:
* Why haven’t President George Bush or his law-and-order attorney general, John Ashcroft, uttered a word criticizing Limbaugh’s law- breaking?
* Why aren’t drug czar John P. Walters or his predecessor, Barry McCaffrey, lambasting Limbaugh as a menace to society and a threat to “our children?”
* Why aren’t federal DEA agents storming Limbaugh’s $30 million Florida mansion in a frantic search for criminal evidence?
* Why haven’t federal, state, and local police agencies seized the celebrity’s homes and luxury cars under asset-forfeiture laws?
* Finally, why aren’t bloviating blabbermouths like William Bennett publicly explaining how America would be more virtuous if Limbaugh were prosecuted, locked in a steel cage and forced to abandon his wife, his friends, and his career?
The answer is obvious: America’s drug warriors are shameless hypocrites who believe in one standard of justice for ordinary Americans and another for themselves, their families and their political allies. That alone should completely discredit them.
But there’s an even more disturbing possibility: that the people who are prosecuting the Drug War don’t even believe in its central premise — which is that public safety requires that drug users be jailed.
The Bushes and Ashcrofts and McCaffreys of the world may believe, correctly, that individuals fighting a drug addiction deserve medical, not criminal treatment. That would explain why they’re not demanding that Limbaugh be jailed.
If that’s the case, these politicians have spent decades tearing apart American families for their own political gain. And that’s an unforgivable crime.
Originally published in Liberty For All October 31, 2003.
