In response to my column on gay marriage, a number of readers as well as Derb, Robert Knight and others have noted — rightly — that simply because conservatives are losing a fight doesn’t mean conservatives should necessarily give up a fight. Many of them have invoked abortion as an example. Just because pro-lifers have not won that many victories doesn’t mean they should throw in the towel. In principle I absolutely agree.

Also, I think the comparison to abortion is more than a little strained since pro-lifers generally believe they are fighting murder or something very close to it. And I’m aware of no morally compelling argument which says that you should turn your back on what you consider genocide simply because the killers are especially successful. Gay marriage may be bad, but I think most rational people understand the two scenarios are apples and oranges.

But what about the drug war? As I’ve written several times, when I asked some of the editors whether NR would be opposed to the drug war if they thought it was winnable, they said “Hmmmm, great question. I’m not sure.” In other words, the conservative-libertarian case against the drug war is not that the intent of the drug war is immoral but that the costs of the drug war are immoral compared to the benefits.

Now I don’t think the two things — gay rights and the drug war — are all that similar. But for those of you who believe that “giving up” or compromising is always wrong, you might think about this a bit.