Remembering the Real Victims (S.M. Oliva)

S.M. Oliva blogs:

On this Memorial Day, it is somehow fitting that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has vetoed a bill that would have allowed "terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana to alleviate pain and suffering in their final days." Pawlenty did not want to upset the police special-interest lobby, who directly profit from the government's illegal war against drugs.

It's hard to come up with a better example of how the men and women who are supposed to be honored today have died, frankly, in furtherance of evil. We're told America's uniformed soldiers die in support of our freedom -- but that it is flatly contradicted by more than two centuries of empirical evidence, not to mention common sense. The soldiers die not to keep us free, but to protect the ability of criminals like Tim Pawlenty to torture innocent people who simply wish to reduce their own pain and suffering. The soldiers die so torturers may continue to live free of the consequences of their actions.

As libertarians, we should take this day to remember the billions who have died as the result of state aggression -- and yes, that includes the American state.