There's a great book on this subject, and many other non-violent (consensual) crimes, called "Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do" by Peter McWilliams. I am sure that there will be comments that drugs cause many violent crimes, but if you look at why (disputes over payment, turf wars, etc.), legalization might solve some of these issues by bringing them out in the open, and allowing for true regulation of the trade. The aforementioned book covers the history of the criminalization of drugs as well.

There is a lot of wasteful spending by both parties in Washington D.C. One example from the other side: Who were the biggest four recipients of donations from the current crop of failed financial institutions: Fannie and Freddie? Chris Dodd, John Kerry, Barak Obama, Hilary Clinton. Yep, all of them are liberals. They were paid with strings attached. Those favors led to the loosening of lending rules and ultimately this crisis. Yet no one is holding them accountable with questions. Employees have lost their jobs and customers are ruined.

So before you try to paint the waste of War on Drugs on McCain, get your own team to be accountable for the waste of taxes in bailouts to a mess they allowed. It will do wonders for your credibility.

I saw the greatest comment on Twitter regarding the current administration's stance toward the economy: "Privatize gains. Socialize losses." I wonder how much their interference is making this crisis last longer rather than just letting bottom fall out so recovery can begin.

I agree that the War on Drugs is useless and actually helps to perpetuate crime. The majority of people incarcerated are there for nonviolent crime. Even if you are anti-legalization, I would think people would be in favor of sending drug addicts to mandatory treatment facilities so they have a shot at rehabilitation.

@Daniel I have to disagree with you on making marriage harder to obtain. I think that the government has no business giving tax benefits to people simply because they are married. Remove this government involvement and gay marriage is no longer a state interest.

Glad you brought this up Tim.

The problem with today's liberalism is liberalism. The problem with today's conservativism is conservatives. The Bush Administration's biggest failures have been overspending and an inability/unwillingness to sell its policies to the public.

To your actual points:

1. Conservatives are the last people on the planet who want government bailouts. So yes, it is hypocritical for a conservative administration to do this.

2. You're right. Conservatives do not want government interference in people's lives. Abortion and same-sex marriage are the exceptions, particularly because they have massive moral and societal implications. In virtually every other aspect of politics it is liberals who want more government intrusion, regulation, legislation, paternalism, etc.

3. The War on Drugs and the subsequent imprisonment of many non-violent offenders is obviously a problem. There are plenty of better ways to address these issues, and most of them are through private organizations that can help with restorative justice, community service, behavioral/moral improvement, etc. Faith-based organizations in particular have been able to enormously lower the recidivism rate of drug offenders and other criminals.

In short: conservative ideals still hold many of the best remedies. The problem is not the ideals themselves; it's the people in power who have failed to act on them.

Amen, I think the Wars on (insert your favorite pet cause here) have been abject failures. Cut the BS, face reality, and legalize the damn things already. The War on Pot especially has been a joke from the outset, 70+ years of enforcement, with criminal penalties becoming evermore draconian as the War goes on but any high school senior can STILL score themselves a dime bag of "dankity dank nugs" on any given street corner anywhere in the country. I believe the phrase that most succinctly describes such a state of affairs would be "Epic Fail".

Personally, I say treat it the same as alcohol, an intoxicant that adults can choose to ingest if they so choose. Just tax the crap out of it. Add on enough taxes so that the legal stuff costs the same as what you would currently find on the black market and folks will just move to using the legitimate stuff as they no longer would have to deal with drug dealers and getting busted by the police; same price, none of the risk.

Also, as another poster pointed out, that tax money could then go to several worthy projects, like paying off the national debt, investing in America's electrical and communications infrastructures, or education, or even the God-forsaken war in Iraq.

Another reason that no one has yet to bring up is with the drugs legalized, those incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses can be let back out into the general public and rejoin the workforce, thus generating even greater wealth for the country as a whole, as opposed to sitting in jail on the taxpayer's nickel.

Ending the War on Drugs could quite possibly be one of the smartest things this country could do, it would free up police resources to better go after real criminals, instantly correct prison overpopulation, open up a new market for both business and tax revenue, and shrink down both the size and intrusiveness of the government.

That said, unfortunately I do not see that happening any time in the near future. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are scared to death that they would appear soft on crime or that they would piss off the family values crowd for tacitly espousing drug use. Truly a shame, hopefully I'm wrong.