Orban and Reagan: Drug Testing and Loyalty

Hungary's Viktor Orban has made the news a couple of times recently. The Budapest government has been increasingly moving toward the 'Right'... though no one on the American Right can seem to agree on what that term means.

Nevertheless Hungary is moving in a more Nationalistic and Anti-EU direction and is thus finding common cause with the geopolitics of Vladimir Putin. The West (of which Hungary historically and culturally has been a part) is viewed as increasingly secular and decadent and the EU and Globalization are viewed as anti-traditional and culturally destructive.

It's interesting how these characters are viewed in the Western press. Among secularists the response is universally negative.

Among Conservatives the response is mixed. John McCain thunders against Orban from the Senate floor, but for him the issue has to do with Putin and his desire to make war with Russia. McCain of course is somewhat unique. He's actually reminiscent of Churchill and that's not meant to be a compliment, though many would take it as such. Like Churchill he believes the answer to everything is war. He's a nationalist, in fact the extreme variety but really not that conservative in his views or personal life.

Most recently the Western Press has tried to stir up controversy over Orban's proposal that politicians and journalists be subject to drug testing.

This is viewed as almost universally outrageous in the United States.

But why? We've heard this before.

Drug testing is a mechanism of control. It reminds me of the loyalty tests of the McCarthy era, something many Conservatives and Christian Political Conservatives would like to see returned. For years these circles have thundered against the 'liberals' in academia and journalism and want to see them driven out. Loyalty oaths and drug testing are ways to force conformity and frankly terrorize people into toeing the line.

And of course once again, everyone seems to have forgotten that Reagan himself proposed a very similar idea in the 1980's. He argued for Drug Free Workplaces and wanted universal testing. It is conservatives who are attempting to use this same mechanism of the drug test to put pressure on the poor and unemployed... anyone who receives government benefits.

Well, not everyone. People who receive tax credits, street grants, public-private business funding, bailouts etc... these people are of course exempt.

Drug testing has been normative when placed in any kind of security context. It has always been viewed as making a person vulnerable to manipulation and blackmail.

Regardless of your position, the outrage coming from the West and in particular the Right is without foundation.

The Left and perhaps some sections of Libertarianism are the only people in our society that have a leg to stand on when criticizing Orban. They are the only people who have opposed similar Right-wing/Nationalistic/Loyalty measures in this country.

There's little to like about Orban but the situation in Europe is a little more complicated than how it is portrayed by Anglo-American media outlets.

Here's a link to an article about Orban's proposal:

http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/business/cbj/hungary-s-leader-wants-drug-tests-for-journalists/article_8d11f39c-e7fd-5e36-bd45-e07891f27900.html

And a link to an article explaining the drug testing proposals in this country. It includes some helpful background:

http://www.thenation.com/article/173654/gops-drug-testing-dragnet