the war on... whatever they can get away with

The state relies on and enjoys a strange exception from core aspects of morality/natural law.

The state can steal, extort, kidnap, imprison, and murder. The full coercive power of the state can be seen in war. 'a state of war' throws aside yet more liberties/laws. A state at war increases its coercive powers. Conscription, income tax all the result of wars.

Now it seems, the state is initiating non-military wars, not against territorial competitors but abstract concepts. This can be seen most clearly in the usa where the state is happy to explicitly describe these expansions of state power at the expense of individual liberty as 'wars'. They had the 'war on poverty', 'the war on drugs' and now 'the war on terror'. This last one does have more traditional recognisable military aspects that we pass off as a legitimate part of the operations of the state but the 'war on terror' is more than iraq and afghanistan. It includes the mass wiretapping of the entire us public and the world, the intrusive tsa air travel bullshit and all sorts of 'terror legislation'. In the uk this legislation was railroaded through asap and has since been abused into a far expanded interpretation of its original intent. Terror laws are now applied to school catchment area disputes etc. So we can see this 'war on terror' as yet another example of the ever expanding coercive power of the state under the excuse of a 'war on...'

see the big picture rios drug war article for the ridiculous lengths the state can go to. Its a photo documentary of what can only be described as the military invasion by the state of an area within its own territorial borders. There are caterpillar tracked APC's and helicopters with paramilitary police hanging out with guns. These 'police' are nothing more than the military, the strongest arm of the coercive power of the state, in different colour costumes. Fully automatic weapons and military equipment being used within the state against its own people.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/rios_drug_war.html

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/mexicos_drug_war.html

anyone with an ounce of awareness knows that it is not the drugs that cause the violence. the second legal prohibitions surrounding the production, distribution and consumption of substances are abolished all this would stop. most illegal drugs should cost about the same as coffee. it is not worth anyones time or money to get this violent over a mocha. too much mocha will make you go a bit weird. you may even have to progress onto your dealers harder stuff to maintain the hit. soon you'll be onto several espressos a day. then your body will crave aspirin and paracetamol. slippery slope. but it is purely up to the individual. if you wanna chug gallons of boiling acidic liquid and possibly cause your guts problems go for it. if you want to inhale smoke as humans have done ever since the discovery of fire then go for it. you may experience health problems you may not. if the smokey leaf has a different name this same individual freedom / individual responsibility thing should be no different. if the pills that make you feel better from a headache are ok then why not pills that just make you feel better for no other reason than just wanting to feel good?

here's the state. these are apparently the 'good guys'. we're supposed to root for them

this may be a proportionate response to an armed bunch of thugs but it is gigantically disproportionate to the 'threat' posed by voluntary production, distribution and consumption of substances? these terrified cadets aren't seen outside tax registered breweries or state approved 'medical' pharmaceutical corporations pumping out nhs funded 'anti depressants'/addictive narcotics. 

she looks comforted by these bobbies on the beat

imagine how terrified they would have been if the police weren't in their street that day. smiles all round - another success for the war on drugs.

more thankful taxpayers showing the contentment only achievable by coercive and overtly violent control of what substances they may live near.

success! it only took a few tanks and millions of dollars in para-military policing to reduce the insidious evil posed by this potplant.

hi, im from the state and im here to help

and here we see the violent cunts who cause the whole problem. this lot are far more violent than even the thousands of escobar wannabes down south. and look at how unbiased the discussion on substances is.