By Steve Kubby, 2008 candidate for the Libertarian Presidential and VP nominations, 2000 and 2008 VP nomination runner-up, and 1998 California Libertarian candidate for Governor. Posted to IPR by Paulie. Disclosure: I worked on Kubby’s 2008 campaign for nomination. Originally posted at Shawdowcabinet.US as well as emailed to contact.ipr@gmail.com by Steve Kubby.
Former US Intelligence Officer and longtime activist, Clifford Schaffer, recently posted an intriguing forecast for the War on Drugs, as well as all the other terrible government programs that do far more harm than good.
According to Schaffer, the state and federal governments are so broke that we are just a few months away from a major shift in government operations.
“For the next couple of years or so, policy changes will be dictated more by budget than by ideology. Making changes based on ideology will continue to be politically dangerous. If they make changes based on budget then nobody has a real complaint. The money just isn’t there, so what are you going to do?”
Schaffer, who once grew marijuana in a greenhouse across the street from a police station, manages the highly respected Schafffer Drug Library at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/index.HTM.
Cliff’s outlook for the Golden State is anything but golden:
“California is $40 billion in the hole, so it will be some time before the
taxpayers get their refund. Until they do, every damn one of them will be on
our side on these expense issues. The issue right now is the economy. The budget crisis will force them to make changes whether they like it or not. All we have to do is show them the numbers, and ask them to make the choice between putting gas in the
helicopters or paying those pissed-off taxpayers.”
Schaffer sees hard times for the Narcs by this October.
“They won’t be able to afford gas for the CAMP helicopters by October. By
April, every taxpayer in California will be screaming that they want their
tax refund before the state spends one more dime on useless stuff.”
Is such an extreme analysis realistic? According to Schaffer, we probably won’t have long to wait in order to find out.
“With any luck, this will be all but over by this fall.”
8 responses so far ↓
1 Mark Entry // Jan 25, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Please, contact the President at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ And your Congressmen at: http://norml.org/ NORML has a contact on the left side of the page. Just fill in your zip code. Let your elected officials know that $3 billion taxpayer dollars for Byrne Grants has been put in the current bailout package. As we know these block grants used to wage the war on drugs have little or no oversight. This means billions more to fuel the helicopters that Mr. Kubby referrred to. Our national debt is already around $14 trillion. We can ‘t afford to squander anymore money on oppressing marijuana users. Also, please remind the president that he promised to end DEA raids against medical marijuana patients: https://secure2.convio.net/mpp/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=245
2 Prospective Advertiser // Jan 25, 2009 at 9:41 pm
It is an exciting opportunity. If they don’t have money to buy bullets, they would be significantly easier to kill (in self defense, of course).
One of the saddest aspects of the Davidian massacre in 1993 is that the BATFE idiots did run out of ammo. Instead of going out and putting those animals down like the curs they were, the Davidians let them gather their wounded and retreat.
(And instead of scattering to the four winds, the Davidians idiotically chose to defend a post. Not a naturally, nor artificially, fortified post, either. Nuts.)
3 Leymann Feldenstein // Jan 25, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Don’t hold your breath waiting for budget cutbacks to end the war on drugs.
To the contrary. Any federal stimulus package is bound to include lots and lots of cash for bullies with a badge. And when the bullies have nothing to do they’ll have to pass even more laws and stiffer penalties to justify the added spending.
4 paulie cannoli // Jan 25, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Unfortunately, I think Leymann Feldenstein is correct.
5 California Taxpayer // Jan 26, 2009 at 12:16 am
If you live in California and owe state income taxes, file an extension. There is no penalty incurred by doing so. Why file for an extension? You don’t have to pay the state a penny. If the state wants to take their sweet time sending out refunds, then why not take our time sending them our tax dollars? Plus, an organized movement to file extensions would put a further financial pinch on the state. maybe those helicopters really won’t fly after all!
6 observer // Jan 26, 2009 at 12:53 am
Oh how I wish this would come true! Perhaps governments might do the right thing, and stop jailing pot smokers – for budgetary reasons? I do think government will shed many ideology-based programs, but anything to do with NOT locking up potheads will not be a part of that budget cutting process. Cannabis decrim is a “third rail” of politics, if a politician touches it, he dies politically (or so the theory goes). Since most reactionary politicians consider jailing marijuana smokers to be God’s own special work, they will cut every cent for highways and hospitals before they will touch funding for their anti-marijuana-based police state. I hope I’m wrong and next October I can gladly eat my words. That will make me very happy. “They won’t be able to afford gas for the CAMP helicopters by October”? Man, that WOULD be great.
7 Billy Goat Eater // Jan 26, 2009 at 1:03 am
You can also file an extension for federal taxes. Clever idea.
8 Andy // Jan 26, 2009 at 1:20 am
“According to Schaffer, the state and federal governments are so broke that we are just a few months away from a major shift in government operations.”
Government entities are far from being broke. Check out the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports for local, state, and federal government entities. See http://www.CAFR1.com for more details. When they say that they are going broke that is a damn lie that they tell the public so they can have an excuse to increase taxes, fines, and fees.
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