Lou Dobbs channels George Bush–BRILLIANT!

I swear, up until the last two sentences of Lou Dobbs’ latest CNN column I thought he had gone libertarian on the drug war.  Look how he opens:

We’re fighting a war that is inflicting even greater casualties than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and, incredibly, costing even more money. We’re losing the War on Drugs, and we’ve been in retreat for three decades.

Dobbs describes the Drug War as “a futile, three-decades-long war of attrition.”  Ok Lou, I’m with you.  I don’t know where we’re going yet, but so far we’re at least in the same car.  We’re in retreat, it’s futile, the costs are massive, treatment works better than incarceration . . . sure, he’s missing some of the biggies but he’s also hitting some of the biggies.

I should have seen it coming.  Why, Lou, why must you toy with me in this way?   Lou drops the hammer on my hopeful head in his last two sentences:

We must end the abuse of drugs and alcohol, and provide successful treatment for Americans whose addictions are destroying their own lives and wounding our families and society.

Whatever course we follow in prosecuting other wars, we must commit ourselves as members of this great society to only one option in the War on Drugs — victory.

Damn you Lou!  So close, yet so far.  Who is going to provide this successful treatment?  You know who, the government.  You know, the ones in charge of the three-decades-long exercise in futility.  Because they’re so good at rehabilitation programs.

 Sure, he doesn’t say it, but all the tell-tale signs are there.  Just by the fact that he doesn’t explicitly say who will be providing treatment, that’s a big tip-off right there.  “We”.  “We” could mean private businesses specializing in rehabilitation and treatment, but do you really think that’s what he means?  No, “We” is being used collectively–”We” society, “We” the People, “We” the taxed, forced to support yet more big government.

Dobbs did the same thing with immigration.  He took one look at the futility and expense of stopping illegal immigration and decided that the solution was to try harder and spend more.  He would see an immovable object and say “You know, if we just push more, I bet it will move!” 

I think he and Bush must be golf buddies, because if you swap a few words around, this same column is essentially the same rationale as Bush’s proposed surge–if things look futile, outrageously expensive and counter-productive, then the only course of action is to double-down, you know, to make sure you lose as much as you possibly can.

As the Guinness spokesmen would say–”BRILLIANT!”