Hypocrisy and Privilege: This is About Trey Radel

You know what? I'll even spot Rep. Trey Radel (FL-R) his weak, borrowed from Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, excuse that he only did cocaine because he was such a drunk, because sure. It's not like the sting that busted him was perpetrated because he already had a history of purchasing coke (it was), and in any event, I can't talk about what drunk people might get up to. I am only an indifferent drunk myself. I do know I can't afford $250 bucks worth of blow if I had that much to spend on bourbon. That is some fucking stupid drunkonomics. But maybe being wasted on microbrews made him wonder if he shouldn't maybe be doing lines, just like I interrupt a wine binge with espressos (I do no such thing). Sure. That's logical. (By which I mean "NOT".)

What isn't logical is being well aware that people acquire substances to help them through the bitter pain of their day to day existence and get dependent on them, and then thinking that it would be A-OK to penalize the poor for their propensity to self-medicate against the horror of a crappy reality by piss-testing people to qualify for their benefits. 

Do I think Rep. Radel was maybe in the midst of getting high his ownself when he thought this would be a nifty exercise to spring on the poor? Yeah. I think so. Do I think he thought he was fundamentally different from some wasted SOB who couldn't catch a job because he himself had a good one in Congress, and therefore, he was morally better than that other kind of substance-user? Yes, indeed. I think he believes he is morally and substantively different from some person who might use drugs, but does not have money.

In other words, he is a real prick. Now, there is drug and alcohol rehab, but I do not know that there is any successful "being a real prick" rehab. But he could use that kind. He surely could.