It was never about the money. And certainly isn't about helping kids.

It's the type of law written to flush out civil liberties absolutists and cast them as pro-criminal extremists:  Florida and other states passed laws that force public assistance recipients to submit to and pass a drug test.  It has a common sense ring to it - why should the tax payer be supporting somebody's drug habit - but its actually kind of ugly in practice. 

Conservatives that oppose healthcare reform often argue that the welfare state is a soft route to tyranny - the more people are dependent on their government's benefit programs, the more government can coerce them by withholding the benefit.  Yet these seem conservatives lead the way when it comes to turning government programs into mechanisms for tyranny. 

We all benefit from constitutional protections that protect each of us from being treated like criminals when their is no probable cause to do so. In that vein, we're protected from unwarranted searches and seizures.  A search of your bodily fluids certainly falls within those protections. 

So if conservatives are so wary of "big government", why are they the ones looking to make it intrusive?  Why are the conservatives the one's asking you to waive your constitutional rights as condition to receiving a government benefit?  Because "conservatives" - especially those in power - only oppose "big government" when it burdens the businessmen that contribute to their campaigns.  Those same conservatives are all for "big government" when it comes to the individual decisions, personal autonomy, privacy of everyone else. 
 
It's not about the money - the law did not reduce the number of assistance applications and the number of drug users identified was statistically insignificant.  The program cost more than it saved. 

And then there's this:

"The drug testing law was really meant to make sure that kids were protected,"

How exactly are protecting children by making sure their mom - who might already be saddled with a problem - has no money?  You're not.  There's a damn good chance you're hurting those children.

But this law was always about pleasing the people that like to case moral judgements on people, be they judgments about poor people or judgements about people that enjoy themselves too much.  And those judgemental people like to cite the bible, but they lack all of the empathy that book instructs us hold for others.  Worse of all, they're always willing to break a few eggs - hurt people - in the name of righteousness. 

They're monsters, and the only reason they get their way is because the business elites are willing to throw them a bone to keep them voting Republican.


NYT: No Savings Found in Florida We