Often being for and against things creates a logic of its own, especially when things are contentious and doubly so when they're political. Military spending i

Often being for and against things creates a logic of its own, especially when things are contentious and doubly so when they're political. Military spending is popular. Civil aid aimed at similar causes is extremely unpopular, even when the sums are far smaller. I'm reminded of French classes, in my education. We learned French for four years. None of us spoke French at the end of these years. I brought up this fact to teachers, parents. When I grew up I spoke about it to friends, who were language teachers. The idea of giving up, canceling French classes, simply because it was failing to teach kids French is mostly seen as appalling. OTOH, a priori, I'm quite certain that "teaching French even though kids won't be able to speak French after four years' would not be a popular idea. "Learning a foreign language is important." I agree that the war on drugs is bad. But, I also use illicit drugs myself sometimes.. and it is considered normal in my social circle. That makes it easy for me. For someone that considers drug use immoral, or terrible in other ways... "I am against drug use" will usually translate into support for whatever anti-drug policy is going. Efficacy is just rhetoric fodder. We're just not that rational, even less so at the political level. "It works" or "it doesn't work" aren't anywhere near as important as "I am for/against..."