Last weekend, the famous-for-nothing Paris Hilton was arrested for having cocaine in her purse. This fits perfectly with the narrative that American addicts are fueling the Mexican drug wars.
Whether or not you are a Hilton fan (or, like me, you have no idea why she is famous), it can hardly be said that the deaths of Mexicans, or anyone else for that matter, lie at her Prada-clad feet.
Over 28,000 people have died in the ongoing Mexican drug war since President Felipe Calderón took office. Are American addicts to blame for those deaths? I say no.
As a student of economics, I understand that every demand will generate a supply. In every marketplace, competitors will “fight” to gain the upper hand. But murder, torture and death are not rational economic behavior; they are evil.
The idea of American culpability is fostered by the liberal media. Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, says of the drug war: “It seems self-evident that we [Americans] are responsible.” In other words, blame America.
Andres Martinez of the New American Foundation says this is “what happens to a nation that shares a 2,000-mile border with the richest nation on Earth, that consumes some $65 billion worth of drugs a year and cedes control of that market to offshore criminal organizations.” Mr. Martinez would have you believe that bordering the U.S. has been a bad thing for Mexico, not the other way around.
This week, Arizona essentially ceded control of portions of the state to Mexican drug gangs. The federal government has abandoned the borders, and Arizona, with no army of its own, is left to drift. A sheriff in Pinal County, Paul Babeu, asked the government for 3,000 members of the National Guard to retake the area. The Obama administration gave him 15 signs.
Drug cartels are taking control of northern Mexico and the southern United States. Instead of blaming Paris Hilton and others like her, the president and his progressive administration should be sending troops to guard the border to protect Americans. As commander in chief, it is his job.
