If another country were to blame for killing over a hundred thousand Americans every year, wouldn’t that be considered more than enough provocation to declare war on those responsible? The United States has gone to war with a lot less provocation. About 3,000 American lives were lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor; about 58,000 US soldiers died in the Vietnam War; and 3,000 civilian lives were taken away in the assault on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a thwarted attempt to strike the White House. Meanwhile, we’re bordered by a country that has been the gateway for virulent drugs, which kill thousands of Americans every month.
The phrase, “war on drugs” has been bandied about since 1971 when President Nixon declared drug abuse to be “public enemy number one!” A couple of decades later, Nancy Reagan encouraged children to “just say no” to drug use. In 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy criticized the war on drugs as a failure, with devastating consequences for our country. Other commissions have been set up since, none of which has had a serious impact on the deadly scourge, which evidently has insinuated itself into our society like an invisible plague that the public has become inured to.
When several innocent people are slaughtered in a single attack, the story is in the headlines for days, if not weeks. Obviously, emotions run high when children are shot dead in their schools by a maniac. The concern and compassion we feel for the families of the victims is what makes us decent human beings. Yet, if the carnage is spread out over the course of a year, and statistics indicate a massive loss of life, it becomes merely wallpaper that has been observed long enough to seem normal, except for the families of the victims. Let’s suppose that 100,000 Americans, mostly those in their teens, 20s, and 30s, were murdered in a single attack. Would our collective consciousness and outrage suddenly be awakened long enough to demand that our government go to war against those responsible?
Our country is being destroyed by malevolent drug cartels that appear to be operating with a license to kill. Our brave soldiers fought and died fighting enemies in countries thousands of miles away. We were told how important it was to fight the Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS, and an assortment of other monstrous terrorist groups. But, as odious as those extreme radicals are; how many Americans die tragically every year because of their violent activities? Contrarily, right across our southern border we have terrorist gangs that are a clear and present danger to every citizen of our country! Doesn’t it seem odd that we aren’t hearing a constant barrage of fiery invective from our government toward those who make hundreds of billions from pushing drugs on our children?
We already know how corrupt our country has become since World War II, when we had patriots in every influential sector of news reportage, corporate life, public education, and Hollywood. Sadly, in 2023 we cannot count on the love of country of any of the above. Instead, we see an insatiable lust for power, money, and control emanating out of all the institutions that we once had faith in. Is it possible that there’s so much cash in illicit drugs that any politician, corporate executive, intelligence agency official, or Tinseltown bigwig can be bought, or otherwise persuaded to stay silent while our country is inevitably obliterated from within? President Biden recently spoke about launching a “major surge to stop fentanyl production and sale” that’s killing 70,000 Americans annually. How many times have we heard that type of useless bombast?
The government’s most crucial job is to keep its people safe. What happens when those we elect are unwilling, incapable, or afraid to speak out against the vicious drug kingpins? When was the last time we heard the words, “Sinaloa Cartel” from a high-ranking public official? Possibly never? We hear the words “Invasion of Ukraine” every day. How many of our citizens are being killed by Russians and/or Ukrainians? Why are we giving tens of billions of dollars to stop an invasion of a country 6,000 miles away, while neglecting, even encouraging, an invasion of our own border? Why isn’t our mighty military machine, which costs us hundreds of billions annually, used to protect the homeland from the forces of evil wrapping its tentacles around the throat of our democracy? If the past is prologue, we’re going to hear a lot more pathetic murmuring from faux leaders who support wars in foreign lands, while giving lip service to the war on our doorstep.