40
Washington, D.C.
At precisely 11 p.m. EST, President Myers appeared on Diele’s television screen. She wore an elegant but understated blue business suit. An American flag was draped prominently behind her as she sat at her desk in the Oval Office. A bust of Teddy Roosevelt was also conspicuously displayed off to one side.
“Good evening, my fellow Americans. I’m addressing you tonight because of a number of recent developments that, taken together, pose a significant security threat to our nation. Beginning with the cross-border assault in El Paso and extending all the way to the Houston oil fire, it has become increasingly clear that the United States faces a new strategic threat. The question is, what exactly is the nature of that threat and how should we deal with it?
“As most of you realize, our country is still wrestling with the economic and physical effects of fighting the War on Terror for more than a decade. There are any number of arguments for or against that war, but no one can doubt the bravery and sacrifice of our men and women on the frontlines of the battlefield, many of whom paid the ultimate price to help secure our nation against another catastrophic attack by Islamist extremists. Thousands of our soldiers have died and tens of thousands have been wounded, physically and mentally, by a seemingly endless war that has cost our nation two trillion dollars to prosecute so far, and perhaps another two to four trillion as we care for the brave men and women who have suffered for their service.
“I was elected, in part, to honor that sacrifice in blood and treasure, and to maintain constant vigilance against any future attacks by our enemies, but the American people have also made it clear that the era of sending American soldiers into battle in faraway lands is over. While we will always honor our treaty commitments with our allies, we are no longer willing to shoulder the primary defense burden for those who are capable of defending themselves.
“My administration is committed to what has been termed the Powell Doctrine, the tenets of which are well known. Is a vital national security interest threatened? Do we have a clear, attainable objective? Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed? Have all other nonviolent policy means been fully exhausted? Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement? Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?”
Myers’s face softened.
“Please forgive me for what must sound like another long-winded political speech. But it’s terribly important that I share with you my thoughts tonight and that we speak honestly with each other. It’s the failure to speak boldly and clearly about the challenges that face us that has brought our nation to the brink of economic and social disaster. With your help, and with the help of the courageous congressmen and senators from both parties who have joined with us, we’ve finally managed to begin to put our fiscal house in order. The budget freeze that’s been put in place is projected to slow the growth of federal spending and eventually balance the federal budget within ten years. It will require constant vigilance and iron-willed discipline to maintain the freeze, but no more vigilance or discipline than many of you have been forced to exercise as a result of the devastating job losses and wage reductions of the last decade.
“Every single mother trying to balance her checkbook, every small-business owner trying to stay in business, and every freshman college student working a part-time job to pay for school knows that you can’t spend more than you take in without courting financial catastrophe. The fact that a generation of politicians has ignored this self-evident truth is one of the reasons our nation is in trouble. On that front, at least, we have made significant progress.”
Diele took another sip of Scotch.
Myers continued.
“But the single mother also knows that, while she must balance the checkbook, her children must still remain safe. And the truth of the matter is that America is not safe. We haven’t been for a long while. That truth was brought home to me in the worst possible way several weeks ago when my son and over a dozen of his students were brutally murdered by a Mexican drug cartel hit squad. I was overwhelmed by the sympathy, prayers, and many other kindnesses you bestowed upon me and my family during our time of grief. But that tragedy instilled in me a resolve to address an issue that we have been all too willing to ignore, let alone combat. The great irony is that while we have been willing to fight battles in distant fields like Afghanistan and Iraq, we’ve been losing a terrible war here at home in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas.
“It was President Nixon who first declared the War on Drugs over forty years ago. That was also at a time when we were winding down from a decade-long war on the Asian continent. For forty years, American law enforcement personnel at the national, state, and local levels have fought valiantly against drug dealers despite limited resources and imposed legal restraints. Billions have been spent. But the sad truth is that hundreds of thousands of Americans have either died or have been incapacitated mentally or physically over the decades as a result of our failed attempt to win the War on Drugs.
“But it doesn’t stop there. Even as I speak, over half a million people are incarcerated for drugs and drug- related offenses, including violent crimes and property crimes. Incarceration, in turn, imposes its own burdens and costs on inmates and their families, as well as an enormous cost to the society as a whole. Over half a million Americans will visit an emergency room this year as a result of drug abuse, costing billions to taxpayers and insurers. And more Americans will die this year as a result of drug overdoses than they will from car wrecks. That’s about the same number of soldiers who were killed in three years of combat during the Korean War.
“Simply put, illegal drugs are destroying too many of our citizens, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities. Illegal drug use crowds our prisons, floods our health care system, cripples our schools, and robs the futures of millions of people. We lose tens of billions of dollars each year in tax dollars and personal income that should otherwise have been spent on our families and our communities for schools and housing and retirement.
“And in the spirit of full disclosure, let’s admit our complicity in the horrific violence that has torn apart our neighbors to the south. Over fifty thousand Mexican citizens have been killed in the last several years as a result of the Mexican government’s attempt to battle the drug cartels on our behalf. Today, Mexico earns more American cash from illegal drug sales in our nation than from legitimate exports to our country. Mexican cartels produce the preponderance of hard drugs that are the primary sources of that revenue, and the great sums of money they generate have been the catalyst for the bloody turf wars that have also been the cause of many innocent Mexicans’ deaths. Mexican society has suffered greatly because of our addictions and we bear some of the responsibility for that suffering.
“To be perfectly clear, I believe it’s time to end the so-called War on Drugs.”
Diele couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Yeah, she did.
Myers continued.
“Wars can be ended by quitting the battlefield—or by defeating the enemy. The reason why we’re losing the War on Drugs is because we have never really fought it like a real war. We must change course.
“While the future of the Middle East remains quite uncertain, what is positively clear is that we have not suffered another attack on U.S. soil like the one we suffered on 9/11 because of the sacrifices we have made and continue to make waging
“But there is another kind of terror. It takes more lives, causes more destruction, costs more money. We
