It is said that there are no ribbons for the family members who are related to lung cancer victims because it was a personal choice that the individual could have avoided.  Is that why there are no ribbons for the family members who have lost a loved one in the drug war?

In 2017, there were 70,237 drug overdose deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  That is 192 deaths a day.  It should be noted that 90% of all illegal drugs come across the southern border.  During the 18-day shutdown of the government, there have been at least 3,456 deaths from drug overdose, and all of these deaths are on the heads of inside-the-Beltway politicians.

This number of deaths does not include the violent deaths of one gang against another for turf to sell more of this poison that is killing our fellow citizens.  Easily, that rounds out the total number of drug related deaths to well over 200 people a day.

By contrast, the United States has lost 3,359 service members in Afghanistan since the beginning of our occupation of that country.  The total number of service members killed in Iraq is 4,886.

The president on Tuesday night spoke to the nation concerning the security of our southern border.  Sadly, he did not say, "The southern border represents a clear and present danger to the security of the nation, therefore I declare a national emergency to address this situation."

Had the president done this, he could have used the military under Title 10 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations to establish military assistance to civilian authorities to build a barrier to prevent more drugs from crossing our border and killing Americans.

Whether border security is to control the flood of illegal immigration, or to stop the flood of drugs into our communities, is not important to the families that have been affected by this indifference that both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of.  They both hold blame and blood.

With each passing day of this shutdown, the Democrats will rack up another 200 Americans dead...but given that they care less about Americans than politics, the inside-the-Beltway crowd will only be inspired by this bloodletting.

I hope that when these politicians meet God on Judgment Day, God is more merciful than I would be.  I lost a daughter and a wife to this war on drugs.  For me, this is very personal, and I have no mercy to give.