Cultural Conservative Beliefs
Cultural conservatives have a great deal of faith in the "War on Drugs"; Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush, all used the expression often and were zealous generals in this "war." Carrying on this tradition in his campaign speeches, presidential candidate
Bob Dole vowed to re-ignite the drug war, which had lapsed, he claimed, under Bill Clinton—whom he designated politically and culturally far to his left. More specifically, cultural conservatives have a great deal of faith in a principle we might refer to as absolute deterrence.
That is, they do not believe simply that law enforcement is more likely to "contain" or keep a given activity in check or at a lower level than no enforcement at all; instead, they argue, that war can—absolutely—
defeat the enemy. Further, they believe (or, at least, in their speeches and writings, they state) that law enforcement, if not restrained by loopholes, technicalities, and restrictions, will actually reduce that activity, ideally, nearly to zero. We can win the war on drugs, the cultural conservative asserts, if we have sufficient will, determination, and unity.
Cultural conservatives are not particularly interested in calculating costs and benefits to minimize the harms that the current drug policy might inflict, nor do they consider the impact of alternate drug policies, since that would open the door to thinking about some forms of legalization. What counts is crushing the monster of drug abuse. Pragmatism enters into this picture only through the back door. What we have here is a kind of holy war, a struggle of good against evil—and winning it represents an end, a goal, and a good in itself.
There can be no compromise with evil. It is simply assumed that harsher penalties translates into less use, but it is not especially important if it does not. What counts is being on the right side and being tough and uncompromising against the enemy.
Not all supporters of the present system of drug criminalization are cultural conservatives. Somewhere in between cultural conservatives and progressive prohibitionists
(a denizen we will encounter shortly) lies a position which may encompass a majority of Americans.
Their position may be dubbed "meat and pota
Bob Dole vowed to re-ignite the drug war, which had lapsed, he claimed, under Bill Clinton—whom he designated politically and culturally far to his left. More specifically, cultural conservatives have a great deal of faith in a principle we might refer to as absolute deterrence.
That is, they do not believe simply that law enforcement is more likely to "contain" or keep a given activity in check or at a lower level than no enforcement at all; instead, they argue, that war can—absolutely—
defeat the enemy. Further, they believe (or, at least, in their speeches and writings, they state) that law enforcement, if not restrained by loopholes, technicalities, and restrictions, will actually reduce that activity, ideally, nearly to zero. We can win the war on drugs, the cultural conservative asserts, if we have sufficient will, determination, and unity.
Cultural conservatives are not particularly interested in calculating costs and benefits to minimize the harms that the current drug policy might inflict, nor do they consider the impact of alternate drug policies, since that would open the door to thinking about some forms of legalization. What counts is crushing the monster of drug abuse. Pragmatism enters into this picture only through the back door. What we have here is a kind of holy war, a struggle of good against evil—and winning it represents an end, a goal, and a good in itself.
There can be no compromise with evil. It is simply assumed that harsher penalties translates into less use, but it is not especially important if it does not. What counts is being on the right side and being tough and uncompromising against the enemy.
Not all supporters of the present system of drug criminalization are cultural conservatives. Somewhere in between cultural conservatives and progressive prohibitionists
(a denizen we will encounter shortly) lies a position which may encompass a majority of Americans.
Their position may be dubbed "meat and pota