The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
Drug Prohibition and the Waterbed Effect
English Summary
The article argues that aggressive drug prohibition and military interdiction efforts, such as 'Operation Southern Spear,' are fundamentally counterproductive. Instead of reducing supply, these actions merely force criminal organizations to adapt, utilizing new and often more complex routes, such as the Amazon river network. This adaptation has resulted in record high supply, decreasing prices, and increasing purity in major consumer markets. Policy efforts focused solely on enforcement and targeting are thus ineffective, as they only raise the cost and violence of the trade without disrupting the underlying demand.
中文摘要
本文主張，採取激進的藥物禁毒和軍事攔截行動，例如「南矛行動」（Operation Southern Spear），本質上是事與願違的。這些行動並非減少供應，反而迫使犯罪組織進行適應，利用新的且往往更複雜的路線，例如亞馬遜河流域網絡。這種適應導致主要消費市場的供應量創紀錄地高漲、價格下降，純度提高。因此，僅專注於執法和目標鎖定的政策努力是無效的，因為它們只會提高交易的成本和暴力程度，卻無法擾亂其潛在需求。
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