Go Los Suns

With the Pistons' season all over but the ping-pong ball, Desultory Eclecticism has shifted his casual allegiance to 'Los Suns', who last night wore their Hispanic appreciation jerseys in protest of Arizona's new immigration law, which the eminently sane Economist characterized as "Hysterical Nativism".  Governor Jan Brewer responded with an open letter on espn.com.  If we twist Brewer's partisan selectivity and skip over both extended sections and bad sports metaphors, we can come out of this believing that she is a good-old-fashioned Southwestern libertarian.  Two examples of creative reading:  

"Put simply, history shows that boycotts backfire and harm innocent people. Boycotts are just more politics and manipulation by out-of-state interests...It is time for our country to act to resolve our border security problem; an economic boycott in Arizona would only exacerbate it -- and hurt innocent families and businesses merely seeking to survive during these difficult economic times."

We'll give Brewer a pass on Apartheid South Africa and move on to a contemporary example of boycotts and sanctions: Iran.  While an out-of-state boycott of Arizona would damage its tourist industry at a time when cheap labor is sure to be flowing out, doing real damage to its economy and hurting "families and businesses merely seeking to survive during these difficult economic times" leading up to Federal mid-term elections, Brewer sees the real futility of economic coercion--economic self-interest tends to triumph.  The Chinese like cheap oil, and the Iranians like cheap toys and DVD players.  Even if sanctions were to keep Iranian oil from flowing out, domestic outrage would likely be directed towards the Great Satan choking the Straits of Hormuz, not towards the Mullahs.  With so many unknown-unknowns out there, Brewer-the-friendly-libertarian is really saying that the United States should "abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world and avoid entangling alliances" because "free trade with all nations is a time-honored prescription for an America that is at peace with the world."

"A boycott that would actually improve border security would be to boycott illegal drugs. Dramatically less drug use and production would do wonders for the safety of all our communities."     

Undoubtedly true!  However, when people are willing to pay rhodium prices for a gram or two of an easily concealable substance, it becomes unlikely that 1) people will voluntarily stop buying that substance, and 2) people will voluntarily stop profiting from its trade.  The Arizona Libertarian Party goes rhetorical: "If the government can't even keep drugs out of prison, how can it keep them out of an entire nation?  The simple answer is: it can't."  Desultory Eclecticism admires Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's political courage to come right out and say "Legalize it!" and will be rooting for her in-state Phoenix Los Suns throughout the remainder of the playoffs.