Contra: the least discussed $40,000,000,000+ of yearly government spending
The group name we decided on going with is, Contra. This will coincide with the theme for our project, The War on Drugs. For those unfamiliar with the specifics, this is a 40+ billion dollar a year mission that is funded by US tax dollars, and has been seen as infective at best. Many facets of our governments spending is coming into question, but why has such an expensive and largely inefficient program seemed to have fallen on the back burner of many discussions.
TWoD is extremely relevant to our society on a social and international level. Most people in prison are due to drug charges. Drugs affect every aspect of our life, from the legal to illegal. TWoD spans almost a hundred years and touches on conspiracies, economics, racism, and foreign policy. But it likely won’t even be mentioned during the presidential debates unlike the Reagan era, where it was a running platform.
Some difficulty may arise in our current method of communication through email. We have created a google doc that will hopefully give us the ability to collaboratively grow an idea from the same digital workspace. We’re undecided on what digital format were going to use for the project, but the recent creation of our google doc should aid greatly into a decision coming shortly.
LOVE the group name, remember UP, UP DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT LEFT, RIGHT, B, A SELECT START and you can get 30 people to help with the project! 🙂
Interesting and well though out question, I would like to see how you guys answer it if the profs approve it.
You chose very important and serious question. I am looking forward to see how you are going to develop this issue and link it to the presidential election. Also, it would be interesting to know if you have brainstormed any other questions?
Nice topic and your right, thats a significant amount of tax dollars to not be discussed thoroughly by candidates.
Which presidential elections will you be focusing on the most? Which foreign nations will you be looking at?
I’m very interested in seeing where this can go.
I think it will be crucial to recognize the massive impact of the privatization of the prison “industry” in recent decades in the U.S.
LIke the topic a lot. I liked ho you came up withy our group name that went with your topic, its a nice detail.
Good topic, I saw a piece on CNN last week on a campaign initiative to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol in Colorado and use the money to help fund public schools. An interesting spin on the “War on Drugs”.
A very interesting question might be “What will happen if drug use becomes legal?” you might want to try to compare the out come (before/after) to a state that already had a law passed for drug use (CA for example)
You mention Reagan era which was quite a different time in America’s history. During the 1980s drug usage was very rampant and could be seen almost openly on every conner in almost every large city in the U.S. It was a time when most of the countries’ will-to -do towns were becoming blighted and considerably unsafe due to the rise in crime and drug usage. It was far worst with respect the the drug usage of today where most cities are going through more gentrification and drug usage is down compared to the 1980s.
Over the course of his eight years in office, Reagan spent $22.6 billion on his revived Drug War. Another major escalation was pushed through under George Bush, who spent $42.5 billion in a single term. Under Clinton, spending has continued to increase, with $16 billion for one year alone allocated in the 1998 fiscal budget. Those figures show federal spending only.
It’s impossible to eliminate the insatiable appetite of the United States for drugs. I feel that the new program on the Mexico border has considerably impacted the supply route and has been substantially effective tool in dealing with the drug wars. The new visa program for Mexicans has also given us a better understanding of the drug trade going on along our boards.
My questions to your group will be what’s the basis of your claim, with respect the past, that the United States is fighting an “expensive and largely inefficient program which seemed to have fallen on the back burner of many discussions.”?
You’re right that the crack epidemic was the basis for Reagan’s “War on Drugs” and “Just say no” campaign. However the 1980s is a almost a completely different lifetime.
Our current drug of choice is not crack. Americans nowadays seek alternatives such as cannabis, prescriptions, and MDMA as a drug of choice.
According to teen-success.org over 50% of teenagers have tried marijuana before graduating high school. The fact that there is an award winning television series about a drug-dealing soccer mom shows that the drug lifestyle has seeped into our society. It has almost become acceptable.
The idea that the government spend billions to fight a war on something they cannot win is appalling.
South American drug lords have developed submarine technology since the 1980s to transport cocaine into the United States. It is like finding a needle in the haystack according to the Coast Guards. The United States is not prepared for drug mules who ingest drug filled balloons into the country/prison facilities. The United Postal Service is going bankrupt and we get more and more news about ten-kilos of coke or twenty-five pounds of marijuana being sent to dental offices by mistake.
If it is so easily obtainable and distributed, why is the government spending billions upon billions of dollars to fight it? In addition to the $40 Billion, $70 Billion is spent on prison facilities which has quadrupled in population since the 1980s. A quarter of which is due to minor drug offenses.
This is an interesting topic. It’s been largely seen as a waste of time and money, but the implications legalization are all over the board
Hey guys, just saw a trailer for a documentary on your topic called “The House I Live In” Trailer is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHV0vUSvbtg&feature=player_embedded
It’s currently playing at the Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Plaza if you’re interested!
http://www.google.com/movies?hl=en&near=New+York%2C+NY&ei=clt2UPvmL8Hv0gHY2ICYBg&q=the+house+i+live+in
Thank you so much for this Caroline!
Nice work, team Contra. It is exciting to see so much detailed information (both qualitative and quantitative!) presented in both the post and the comments. The question you propose lends itself well to historical analysis because the War on Drugs has spanned many decades, including many presidential elections. This brings me to my primary concern at this point: how will you explicitly link your questions about the War on Drugs to the history of presidential elections, and ultimately to the election of 2012. Your project will have the greatest impact if you explain not only how the War on Drugs (and its many constituent parts) but why these changes occurred. As you identify secondary sources on the topic, I recommend that you specifically seek out sources that assess the connection between the War on Drugs and presidential politics. The information from the secondary sources should help inform you as you continue to shape your question.
Professor Thomas, our group is having a hard time drawing the connection between war on drugs to the 2012 election because its not being cover and talk about by both candidate. So we were thinking, can we use the questions, Why the war on drugs is being overlook in 2012? and Why is it a important issues? as a link towards the 2012 elections?