Ryan Bagueros wrote in a message to All:
 RB> So, what I want to know is.. has the Drug War made more people
 RB> aware of how  corrupt the U.S. is and how illegitimate their
 RB> existence is?
No.  Most people accept and believe the most conveniently
available and most repeated statements they see and hear.
Critical thinking and inquiring minds are rare.  The drug
war PR is ubiquitous and seems to have been effective in getting
many people to believe the lies the government and prohibitionists
want them to believe.
On the other hand, I have had some success in changing people's
minds by providing them with credible information and demonstrating
how the government has misrepresented the conclusions of studies
and misrepresented statistics.
 RB> Do you think that  more people have become more
 RB> Libertarian/right-wing/capitalist in their  thinking or more
 RB> leftist/anarchist/socialist?
Your putting right-wing in with Libertarian, and anarchist in with
leftist and socialist is curious.  I would put right-wing in the
same group as socialist/leftist/communist/ authoritarian.   As
Lazarous Long aka Robert Heinlein observed:
"Political tags -- such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist,
fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth -- are never basic
criteria.  The human race divides politically into those who want
people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.  The
former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest
good of the greatest number.  The latter are surly curmudgeons,
suspicious and lacking in altruism.  But they are more
comfortable neighbors than the other sort."
Anyway, to me, people have generally become more willing to give up
personal freedom, self-reliance, and adult prerogatives in exchange
for the perception of security through paternalistic government
control over as many aspects of daily life as possible.  Furthermore,
people are more willing to use government to impose the order they
want on others.
 RB> Do you think more people will  learn
 RB> to fight for their rights in the face of massive
 RB> corporate/government  opposition? 
More people want more security, and they consider rights to be
threatening.  There is a big demand for government regulation
and not having to be responsible for oneself.
I hope that I am wrong -- I guess that is why I keep trying.
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