War on drugs thoughtcrime

[lighthorseman]

Border Patrol agents pursue smugglers one moment and sit around in boredom the next. It was during one of the lulls that Bryan Gonzalez, a young agent, made some comments to a colleague that cost him his career.

Stationed in Deming, N.M., Mr. Gonzalez was in his green-and-white Border Patrol vehicle just a few feet from the international boundary when he pulled up next to a fellow agent to chat about the frustrations of the job. If marijuana were legalized, Mr. Gonzalez acknowledges saying, the drug-related violence across the border in Mexico would cease. He then brought up an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition that favors ending the war on drugs.

Those remarks, along with others expressing sympathy for illegal immigrants from Mexico, were passed along to the Border Patrol headquarters in Washington. After an investigation, a termination letter arrived that said Mr. Gonzalez held “personal views that were contrary to core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps.”
www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/us/officers-punished-for-supporting-eased-drug-laws.html?_r=2&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto

But don't worry, I'm sure this is a completely isolated incident of a law enforcement officer being punished for not having a big enough stick up his arse.

[ironbite]

Sounds like a classic case of wrongful termination to me.

Ironbite-enjoy the lawsuit there Border Patrol.

[ltfred]

Apparentlyy opposing the current drug laws is either unpatriotic, or indicative of a lack of determination or comradeship. Thanks Border Patrol! Never would have know that otherwise!

[Wykked Wytch]

A Lawful Neutral police officer fired for not being Lawful enough?

LOL

[Haseen]

I'd consider him to be more Neutral Good than Lawful Neutral. Of course, Lawful Good can also be argued, because he's talking about the hypothetical where the law is changed in a completely lawful way.

“personal views that were contrary to core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps.”

Aside from being extremely Orwellian, I fail to see how anyone can make that leap from believing a law should be different. Unless they fire everyone in law enforcement that votes, they're hypocrites.