APAULed

Tough break today for the libertarian "message," thanks to the "messenger." Being an exceedingly cynical "small-l" libertarian means never having to say I'm sorry for Ron Paul.

But regrets? Some of them have a few. Andrew Sullivan, Arnold Kling, and Matt Welch at the bottom most closely share my sentiments.

Election fallout, of course, will be zilch, as was the Paul candidacy as anything other than a freewheeling vehicle into mainstream cluck-cluckery.

Here's hoping the message has stronger and longer legs than the messenger; but that should have been the hope all along.

Waffles

What have you changed your mind about?

Legalization: "If drugs were legalized, there would be a drug spot in every corner. It wouldn't be a Starbucks. It'd be Weedbucks. McDonald's? McCokeald's. Krispy Kreme? Kracky Kreme."

--Chris Rock, "Never Scared"

Drug use should be entirely the user's business if he or she is of age and the rest of us are able to go on with our lives. But if drugs were legalized, where would the business of drugs be done, and who would do it?

My guess "then": on the same corners and by the same kids doing it today.

My take today: Drug dealers--the mid-and upper-level dealers, at least--would by choice begin to take their business off the corners, away from the kids, and into storefronts, leaving the smaller and less savvy dealers literally and figuratively out in the cold; or taking heat from the cops, who with increasingly less resistance would have more success directing drug traffic away from neighborhoods.

Success in many cities would come slowly. In any "war," there always will be dead-enders who only know what they know, "getting" who's "got to be got." Store-front stickups and truck jackings, along with good-ol'-fashioned payback, initially will keep more than a little violence in the game. Street trade would be clung to by some (especially during "after hours," assuming drugs only could be sold legally at certain times, as alcohol is today); and in certain areas of cities, it'd be expedient to tolerate street trade 'til the presumably wealthier storefront dealers (both those off the street and competitors new to the trade) put them out of business with stronger drugs in steadier supply, cleaner and safer surroundings in which anything you find in a 7-11 could be sold, and, eventually, the best prices.

Who, in addition to dealers exercising their Second Amendment rights, would make the storefronts safe for business? Cops, on-duty and off. A dollar's a dollar for everybody if it's legal.

What have you changed your mind about?

Vote Note

"I doubt that libertarianism will be advanced by any campaign for national office. I suspect that the best way to advance libertarianism is not to compete for government office but to compete against government."

--Arnold Kling, "Ron Paul: My Two Cents" at EconLog