Date: Fri, 14 Aug 98 07:30:33 PDT
From: announce@lp.org
Subject: Release: drug testing
Sender: announce-request@lp.org
Reply-To: announce@lp.org
To: announce@lp.org (Libertarian Party announcements)
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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
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For release: August 14, 1998
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For additional information:
George Getz, Press Secretary
Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
E-Mail: 76214.3676@Compuserve.com
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Congress, your hypocrisy is showing:
Plan to drug-test politicians is killed
WASHINGTON, DC -- If federally mandated drug testing is such a
good idea for high school students, public-housing residents, and bus
drivers, why isn't it good enough for Congressmen?
That's what Libertarians are asking after the Republican House
leadership quietly torpedoed an effort to mandate drug testing for
every member of Congress.
"These Congressmen must be getting high on hypocrisy," said
Libertarian Party National Director Ron Crickenberger. "Why else would
they wage a War on Drugs on the rest of us, but declare a drug-testing
truce in the halls of Congress?"
Last week, Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) said the House was
too "busy, busy, busy" to consider a proposal that would have required
all 435 House members and their staffs to take random tests for illegal
drug use.
Armey and other Republican leaders discreetly declined to set a
date for a vote on the motion, effectively killing it for the year.
The decision to quash the drug-testing plan has Libertarians
unsure whether to applaud Congressmen for their wisdom or jeer them for
their hypocrisy, admitted Crickenberger. For example...
* One of the reasons Congress was too "busy, busy, busy" to
debate the drug-testing proposal was because it was "busy, busy, busy"
passing new legislation to ratchet up the Drug War.
"So far this term, Congress passed a $17 billion drug war
budget; approved stationing U.S. troops on our borders to fight drug
smuggling; killed a bill that would have curbed asset forfeiture
abuses; and voted to spend $2 billion for a five-year anti-drug
advertising campaign," said Crickenberger. "In addition, Republican
leaders vowed to launch a World War II-style blitzkrieg to wipe out
drug abuse. Does this seem just a little hypocritical?"
* Even more ironic: News reports indicated that many lawmakers
had quietly opposed the measure because drug testing was "unnecessary
and insulting" and "undignified."
"To those Congressmen, we say: Welcome to the Drug War," said
Crickenberger. "Too bad 270 million other Americans will continue to
endure those same unnecessary, insulting, and undignified violations of
their Constitutional rights. Why is there one set of standards for
politicians who make the laws, and another for ordinary Americans who
suffer under them?"
* Despite the draconian punishments that Congress has mandated
for drug offenses, the proposed drug-testing measure would have merely
required that any House member who tested positive be reported to the
Ethics Committee.
"If Congressmen want to play Drug Warriors, shouldn't all the
rules of the game apply to them?" asked Crickenberger. "If they tested
positive for illegal drugs, shouldn't they be immediately arrested? Be
subjected to mandatory-minimum jail terms? Face a death sentence if
they are declared Drug Kingpins? Have their assets seized? If these
harsh punishments are really needed to fight drugs, isn't it only fair
that they apply to Congressmen, too?"
* Finally, proponents of the drug-testing plan had argued that
the House needs to "set a good example" for the nation, since so many
Americans -- including air-traffic controllers, high school athletes,
public-housing residents, and bus drivers -- are subject to
government-required drug testing.
"Actually, the House set a good example by rejecting this
plan," countered Crickenberger. "Now maybe it will set an even better
example by protecting every other American from the horrors of the War
on Drugs. After all, Congressmen finally summoned the courage to stand
up for their own Constitutional rights. When will they start standing
up for ours?"
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