Taking back the joint: The GOP should stand with marijuana law reformers
This is especially important because the Obama administration could have given Republicans the perfect opportunity to signal an ideological re-emphasis. The White House is surprisingly uncool when it comes to toking up: A Reuters piece that Charles C. W. Cooke noted on the Corner last week reports that the victories are largely symbolic. Ken Sabet, former assistant to Obama’s drug czar, said that state leaders “are facing an uphill battle with implementing this, in the face of . . . presidential opposition and in the face of federal enforcement opposition.” In other words, the Obama administration cares more about maintaining the concentration of federal power than preventing thousands of bored college students from getting arrested for doing exactly what the president did when he was a bored college student.
For the GOP, this is more than just an opening; it’s a magical messaging moment, which, to paraphrase Rahm Emanuel, conservatives shouldn’t let go to waste. “This is a classic example of where they can walk the walk,” says Tim Lynch of the Cato Institute. This isn’t really a drug-legalization issue; it’s a states’ rights issue and a limited-powers issue. All conservatives have to agree on is that the federal government might have better things to do with its freshly printed money than try to enforce a nigh-unenforceable law that local voters and leaders think was a bad idea in the first place.
That’s how Clarence Thomas sees it, too.
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Peyote should be decriminalized, too.
scrubjay on November 14, 2012 at 8:09 PM
Cool, another genius idea to pander for votes.
James on November 14, 2012 at 8:10 PM
I agree with the general idea, but it will be seen as a pander.
Dack Thrombosis on November 14, 2012 at 8:14 PM
If the GOP wasn’t such a fake, and wasn’t blatantly LYING about what it believes in, it would support the rights of states to decriminalize Marijuana and other things. GOP is all rah rah 10th amendment and is constantly talking about reducing the scope of government, but is unwilling to reduce government where it has COMPLETELY failed and support the tenth amendment in ANY meaningful way. The GOP is a fraudulent party.
thphilli on November 14, 2012 at 8:15 PM
Even with the pot-head Libertarians (I’m an non-pothead Libertarian) and their votes, Obama et al would still have cheated their way to a win.
Besides…would they have turned out? I mean, duuude….
ProfShadow on November 14, 2012 at 8:20 PM
Not now. Obama takes credit, and we get nothing.
faraway on November 14, 2012 at 8:21 PM
So you’re for continuing the failed “War on Drugs,” regardless of its being a black hole of spending? You’re in favor of a large, centralized government that controls the states rather than a federalist system in which each state decides for itself? You aren’t for the Constitution, which doesn’t grant the federal government any power to criminalize or ban any product or service? You’re not for personal freedom and choice?
Dante on November 14, 2012 at 8:23 PM
Its no use trying to tell republicans that you don’t just get to be principled when it suits you. Republicans today LOVE big government, unless of course it does something they don’t like. Then they are all about states rights and smaller government. But not REALLY states rights, only states rights not to do that thing they didn’t like. And not REALLY smaller government, just small enough not to do that thing they didn’t like. The GOP has no principles anymore, thats why they are losing elections.
thphilli on November 14, 2012 at 8:28 PM
Gay marriage legalized on the same day as marijuana makes perfect biblical sense.
Leviticus 20:13: ‘A man who lays with another man shall be stoned’.
Wander on November 14, 2012 at 8:31 PM
I am all for this. Suburbs with bloated government are funding themselves by making criminals out of everyone. You can’t go 10 feet without hitting a speed trap. Policemen investigate potential drinking or marijuana violations with a vengeance I have never seen before. Nearly every kid I know has been caught near a drinking party or holding a cup, it’s insane. Let’s leave these kids with massive debt, huge student loans, no jobs and criminal records – what a legacy.
msmveritas on November 14, 2012 at 8:33 PM
I love people that think Democrats will ever be liberal on pot smoking. While they are against criminalizing it they are more than happy to collect fines and confiscate drug dealers property. Plus it creates all kinds of government jobs.
Rocks on November 14, 2012 at 8:34 PM
I smoke cannabis. And I voted early. Only wish I could have voted often…
JohnGalt23 on November 14, 2012 at 8:41 PM
TO: Betsy Woodruff
From: Lover of Liberty
Message: Amen Sister!
Archimedes on November 14, 2012 at 8:44 PM
Centuries of deadly misunderstanding because of incorrect interpretation.
lester on November 14, 2012 at 8:45 PM
I’m fed up with being told that since Republicans lost a Presidential election we have to change our stance on drugs, illegal immigration, the color of our underwear, you name it…oddly enough, sometimes by the very same people who say we can’t out-Democrat the Democrats with our choice of candidates.
We lost two elections…sure, it’s a big deal, but it shouldn’t be enough to make us completely abandon the party platform.
James on November 14, 2012 at 8:52 PM
Your stance on drugs shouldn’t need consecutive massive presidential election failures to change. Just look at the facts and actually believe in some of the BS that republicans say they believe in. Small government, tenth amendment, etc.
I guess that republicans don’t actually believe in any of that nonsense, but instead use it as excuses as to why they don’t like certain liberal policies
thphilli on November 14, 2012 at 8:59 PM
I stand with William F. Buckley on this matter.
Scribbler on November 14, 2012 at 9:10 PM
So…it’s merely a coincidence that this plea is coming on the heels of a lost election, among all the other ‘we have to change X about us’ posts?
James on November 14, 2012 at 9:15 PM
No.
The fact that the War on Drugs is an abject failure that has corrupted domestic law enforcement and undermined governments in this hemisphere should, however be enough to make us abandon a plank in our platform that has become a national punchline.
Or should conservatives now start to ignore very real world politics and consequences?
JohnGalt23 on November 14, 2012 at 9:22 PM
Don’t bogart that policy, my friend.
Transpo on November 14, 2012 at 9:46 PM
You do realize you posted this on a thread that was about voters, at the ballot box, legalizing weed. So…apparently they will.
libfreeordie on November 14, 2012 at 9:47 PM
Nothing is more conservative than Federalism. If the citizens of an individual state want to legalize drugs, they should absolutely have the right to do so.
The drug war is anything but conservative. The war on drugs depends on the expanded definition of the commerce clause decided in Wickard v Filburn, when the SCOTUS ruled that the federal government has the power to make it illegal for a person to grow a crop for his/her own personal consumption. Under an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, the commerce clause grants the feds the power to make it illegal to sell drugs across state lines, and prevent drugs from entering the US from foreign countries. It does not grant the feds any say when it comes to the sale of drugs that are produced and sold in an individual state.
HarryBackside on November 14, 2012 at 10:15 PM
I was for WOD way back when Nancy said “just say no” but became against it by the time Perot first ran for office. Still think it is a waste of $$$ fighting it and human capital taken down and marginalized when addiction should have been treated not convicted.
AH_C on November 14, 2012 at 10:37 PM
I know we have to face the reality that our primary positions have been overrun by the Democrat welfare masses…
But is this really one of the secondary positions we should be falling back to? Are there really enough pro-pot voters to make it worth disgusting all the conservatives who would literally fight it until the day they died?
If absolutely nothing else we should consider numbers, and I really don’t think the numbers are on the side of the potheads.
MelonCollie on November 15, 2012 at 10:36 AM