I've been watching, and joining in, the argument about the war on some drug-users for decades, and it's absolutely unsurprising to see the same arguments now as the war publicly spills over onto some other rights.

There are drug laws and drug courts which by legal manipulation utterly violate normal legal rights, even to trial by jury.

The "if you've got nothing to hide" line has been used for decades by self-proclaimed "law'n'order" conservatives in their defense of Nixon and Reagan and the War on "Other" Americans. Now I see it popping up by some defending Big Brother's massive universal database.

And the "it's the law, if you don't like it, change the law" argument. Oh, how old and tired that is! In a general way, if you're talking about a vote about whether a street should be one-way or two-way, yeah, you drive one-way until the law is changed. When the law refers to what you think, what you say, what you pray, whom you gather with for worship, the sanctity of your "persons, houses, papers, and effects," whom you hire for your business, and yes what substances you might enjoy,* *(Always with the caveat that personal liberty is absolutely related to personal responsibility). and when the "democracy" says No but you believe your God-given right is Yes, if the government truly transgresses your rights, it is the government which is criminal.

We pledge allegiance to the Nation — the Constitutional one

This is where we get into the murky area of what is quaintly called civil disobedience, but there it is. Even a stopped Walden Pond can be right twice a day. Or something. A soldier swears to obey all orders, but a clearly criminal command (like being ordered to rape) does not obviate an individual from making a moral decision, at whatever the personal cost.

Criminal government compounds the civil disruption, as, for example, the matrix of prohibitionism breeds cops lusting after confiscating vehicles and stealing and even dealing drugs, prison staff and supply lobbies — unions — ruthlessly lobbying for more filled cells, and every other temptation to corruption. Then, disregard for corrupt "law" by the prohibited and the enforcers alike always spills over into general disregard for law and government in general, black-market-supplying gangsters are held to be heroes, and good people don't report crimes for fear of consequences from both sides. And the kind of cops, judges, and bureaucrats you get tend less and less to be Officer Friendly and more and more the Us-Them warriors, which militarizing mentality is being reinforced in cop training from above, by the Tyrants who want to undermine our country.

We are a divided nation of inconsistent laws because we do not have a truly Constitutional Republic with simple, restricted government. We don't have a critical mass of people who understand the idea and believe in it and are willing to make it the Law of the Land.

With consistency of principle, that which is not a transgression needs no law. This has to mean no "bad feewings" and no "group insult" kind of transgressions, no "Mother Gaia" or "Agenda21" type religions, either (I weep for the future).

With consistency of principle, government may only enforce the few good laws regarding true transgression, restrict bureaucratic overreach, and be asked to impartially settle disputes.

I always held that conservatives should recognize general Prohibitionism for the tyranny it is, and some of a more libertarian bent have understood this. Consistency of principle is not a hallmark of humanity, generally, and even the thoughtful Constitutionalists often have large holes in their appreciation of liberty for all, not just for thee. The overreach of government is reaching critical proportions, or, as many think, has long since exceeded them. All those old conservatives, especially the Silent Majority and Christian Coalition types, all the nouveau Tea Partiers, and all general just-let-me-be types, who for decades have tolerated the growth of Prohibitionism and all its peripheral industries,

Seems related:
Revolution of Principle
among others.