"Although our war on drugs must be fortified with the best laws, enforcement efforts and resources, we would not be successful without your individual commitment to this cause"
About this Quote
The sentence is built to sound like policy, but its real engine is guilt-with-a-badge: it flatters the listener into responsibility while insulating the state from blame. Carnahan opens with the hard stuff - "best laws, enforcement efforts and resources" - a checklist of government seriousness that signals competence and resolve. Then he pivots to the quieter demand: none of it works "without your individual commitment". The move is rhetorical judo. If the drug war fails, the problem can be rerouted from strategy to citizenship.
That framing reflects the late-20th-century political sweet spot Carnahan operated in: the era when being "tough on drugs" was bipartisan common sense, and politicians needed to fuse punitive policy with communal virtue. "Fortified" is a telling verb. It imagines the state as a besieged fortress, drugs as an invading force, and enforcement as moral defense. It also blurs the line between public safety and moral purity, making dissent feel like disloyalty.
The subtext is a recruitment pitch. "Your individual commitment" can mean abstain, report, consent to surveillance-heavy policing, support funding, accept harsher sentencing - all without naming the trade-offs. It's an invitation to participate in a campaign where the costs are distributed (policing, incarceration, stigma) but the language stays antiseptic and uplifting. The quote works because it converts a contested policy project into a civic test: if you care about your community, you will join; if you question the premise, you're the weak link.
That framing reflects the late-20th-century political sweet spot Carnahan operated in: the era when being "tough on drugs" was bipartisan common sense, and politicians needed to fuse punitive policy with communal virtue. "Fortified" is a telling verb. It imagines the state as a besieged fortress, drugs as an invading force, and enforcement as moral defense. It also blurs the line between public safety and moral purity, making dissent feel like disloyalty.
The subtext is a recruitment pitch. "Your individual commitment" can mean abstain, report, consent to surveillance-heavy policing, support funding, accept harsher sentencing - all without naming the trade-offs. It's an invitation to participate in a campaign where the costs are distributed (policing, incarceration, stigma) but the language stays antiseptic and uplifting. The quote works because it converts a contested policy project into a civic test: if you care about your community, you will join; if you question the premise, you're the weak link.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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