Portugal's experiment with decriminalizing essentially all drugs is, according to this article anyway, a resounding success and should stand as a model for everyone, particularly in the US. Now, the libertarian in me is quietly golf-clapping that someone finally decided to take the plunge. The skeptic in me notes the US is much more diverse than Portugal, and it's very difficult to predict how such a melange of immigrants, many of whom are beholden to various expensive and ineffective forms of public assistance, will react to this sort of thing.

Bottom line, though, this is what the Democrats had a real opportunity to achieve. A genuine roll back of the ridiculous "war on drugs" Republican interest groups have managed to spend billions of dollars on in the past, what, twenty years? I'm of the opinion that most moderates and ALL progressives want that reformed, and they had the tools and the talent to do so. Instead they pissed it away on Obamacare, union empowerment, climate change, and a whole raft of other crap that couldn't please their moonbats and would never make the center happy.

Now my side'll get a chance. The optimist in me is hoping we'll usher in a more libertarian form of Republican party which will concentrate on economic liberty, which the country very much wants, instead of social conservatism, which it very much does not. The realist in me thinks the best we can hope for is gridlock strong enough to keep both sides grinding at each other while the rest of us get on with it.