Body Count verses the Free Market

Conservatives love the free market, except when they don’t.

One of the best examples of the operation of the free market is the illegal drug trade, which is obviously controlled by the rules of supply and demand. A perfect free market system.

Last week, the media spent a lot of coverage on a drug bust in Mexico. A real, honest to God, dope kingpin was arrested. Officials were falling all over themselves talking about how this arrest would disrupt the distribution network of the smugglers.

One observer suggested that this arrest would be a sign that the “serious consequences of prosecution...” will somehow deter others from entering the trade. Who are these people kidding?

These Mexican drug cartels are the people who will brazenly kill 20 kids at a party. They’re not worried about prosecution. As long as there is a profit available, someone will step in to take over the business. This is the very nature of the free market.

Any disruption in the flow of drugs north, or the flow of guns and money south is temporary. A hiccup in a business which will be back to normal within hours.

On equal footing of this conservative fantasy is the war on terror. It is something like a free market system in that there appears to be a sort of supply and demand of zeal and sacrifice. The leaders supply the necessary religious dogma to a group of insurgents who buy into it hoping to achieve martyr status in their fight for what they believe to be a just cause.

The way this war is reported always reminds me of the all-important body count in the Vietnam War. There, officials determined that if we could just show that the troops were killing an inordinate amount of insurgents, success would lie just around the corner. Maybe they'll run out of bad guys.

But with either drug smugglers or terrorists, there appears to be a waiting list of people to take over when room becomes available at the top. In the case of our war on drugs, we have spent billions of dollars in the actual waging of it, not counting more billions in prosecuting and imprisoning offenders, all without any discernible effect. And this is without counting the damage to our judicial system in terms of both its integrity and perception.

In the case of our war on terror, we have incurred casualties in the thousands and inflicted like amounts on the enemy. And we have compromised our values, alienated allies and sent countless drones into villages, killing both innocent and not so innocent persons in an effort to build up the body count. These people, whether drug kingpins or terrorists, are fighting with a zeal which cannot be neutralized by military force.

Does anybody really believe that at some point they will recognize the futility of their cause, give up and see things our way? Is that the way the market operates? I would argue that there seems to be an inexhaustible supply of drug lords and terrorists just waiting for promotion to the vacancy created by our military.

Whether fighting for a monetary profit or 40 virgins in the afterlife, we need to adjust our thinking to accommodate the fact that there is always a market for dope and fervor. When our country uses its considerable force toward some end, someone needs to be thinking whether our actions are helping to achieve our stated goals.

Running up a body count should never be one of them.