The best lefty reason for legalizing drugs: to transform drug-users into clients of the nanny government.

Glenn Greenwald and Ilya Somin are, in this long Bloggingheads segment, talking about drug legalization. You can watch that whole thing, but it exemplifies the kind of Bloggingheads style that I loathe. One person holds forth until he finally comes to a stop, and then the other one gets his turn and takes what he seems to have earned, the opportunity to expatiate for an equivalent expanse of time. There's no conversation and interplay, just 2 speeches. Put it in writing, and I could see what you're saying in a few seconds.

I don't want to look at you 2 talking unless something happens because the 2 of you are there at the same time. Sometimes Bloggingheads operates on this tedious concept that it's doing something by simply demonstrating — over and over and over — that 2 people with different viewpoints can talk to near each other. If bland, conventional etiquette is a valuable performance, why not put up video of them eating sandwiches and chewing with their mouths shut?

But I've clipped out 48 seconds of Glenn Greenwald talking because it's such a perfect display of the left-wing mindset. I've skipped over the part where he asserts that you don't have to want to use drugs to want drug legalization and that legalizing drugs would not increase drug use. Watch this:



See? He loves the idea of pulling people into the embrace of government. When drugs are illegal, there is a "wall of fear" separating the people who are drug users from government. But if drugs are legal, "the relationship between the government and the citizenry changes for the better and becomes much more constructive." Tear down that wall, and these people who avoid the grip of government can be enfolded in endless programs. A torrent of ideas for programs spews from the mouth of Greenwald. It's such an exciting idea for lefties: There's a big untapped pool of potential clients for nurturing government services. Let the druggies come to Big Mother government.