Everything

There is no “libertarian on the issue.” Legalizing marijuana is the conservative position.

Published

12 months ago

April 20, 2018

Ray Fava

You hear a lot of Conservatives say that when it comes to marijuana legalization, they are “libertarian” on the issue. It’s a common expression even used by Ben Shapiro.

However, the linguistic choice of the word “libertarian” implies that legalization of pot is not a conservative position. Traditionally, this is true. Not many Conservatives in the past have supported this notion. To make matters more complicated, many Conservatives have argued in favor of a “law and order” approach to the issue.

Notably, an increasing amount of young Conservatives favor legalization while older Conservatives tend to side with the “law and order”. Conservatives are often free to disagree because Conservatives are not some mob of conformity. If that’s what you want, there’s a camp called leftism, but I should warn you, you’ll ever be woke enough.

Conservatives are free to disagree on methods, but underlying principles of a limited government following through on its enumerated powers remains a consistent platform for us to unite.

However, on the issue of marijuana, there is a right and wrong position for Conservatives to hold. Bearing in mind a limited government, the Conservative movement would be most correctly aligned with its principles if it advances the legalization of marijuana, foregoing the law and order approach.

Acknowledging Government Failure

At the Conservative camp, we often talk about how government is the problem, not the solution. And when the government gets involved in things, a worse outcome results. The obvious example of healthcare is a drop in the bucket in the vast ocean that is government failure. For more failures, we can point to souring college tuition prices. It was the government that turned a depression into the Great Depression. We can look at occupational licensing hurting lower-income people. Likewise, the current marijuana rules augmented a stoner population.

Ronald Reagan said in his ingratiation:

Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

The government has royally blundered trying to curb recreational marijuana usage, and to continue down the current pathway is to meet the definition of insanity. The Conservative worldview sees the individual, not the government as the solution to cultural problems. Government solutions so often prove to be failures.

Personal Distaste Leads to Hypocrisy

Conservatives too often argue for marijuana to be illegal based off of rather weak points. I’m going to specifically address John Hawkins from Townhall seeing as this article was referenced in a NOQ Report article back in January. The article titled “5 Reasons Marijuana Should Remain Illegal” details five weak points that I will address.

Marijuana is addictive for some people

If I accept the premise that marijuana is addictive(it’s not), by what precedent are addictive properties cause for something to be illegal. Here we find a logical disconnect in the argument. Alcohol is addictive. Tobacco is addictive. Both legal. Oreo’s have been studied to be addictive in mice as cocaine. Still legal (the only lines I do). If we’re not talking about only drugs, porn is legal. Sex is legal. Hoarding is legal. Video games are legal. They made a show about strange addictions. Human beings are creatures of worship; therefore it is a tendency for people to fall into addiction. This is no reason to make something illegal.

It’s not woking well in Amsterdam

This was an incredibly weak reason because it’s based on the Dutch being horrified that their children have access to pot. That is already the case here in the US. Legalization wouldn’t change this, while it being illegal hasn’t stopped this. The arguments against marijuana legalization that invoke children present a false consequence. And it makes us seem like hypocrites when we give our children medication as a substitute for discipline.

Mental and Physical Health(2 reasons)

It would be foolish to argue against marijuana’s medicinal benefits. However, I do acknowledge that it is fair to bring up the negative side effects. In this area, a person should take responsibility for their own health. Individual responsibility is what our culture needs not a nanny state protecting us from harm in every direction.

That being said several dangerous things are legal that if used irresponsibly could have a negative impact on mental and physical health. I could list them but you get the idea. The government is a poor arbitrator when it comes to protecting the citizens from their own choices.

Marijuana decimates people’s lives

We’re back to the “protecting people from themselves” argument. This is not logic that a conservative should use. Conservatism strives for a free market capitalist system whereby the individual is responsible for their own outcome in life. Protecting people from their own poor decisions is not the role of the government. There are things that destroy people’s lives that merit being illegal, but marijuana is not one of them. Millions of Americans use it whether in the slums or the penthouse. The lack of inherent or predictable negative consequences to potheads does is insufficient reason for keeping marijuana illegal.

At the end of the day, Conservatives only oppose marijuana legalization out of personal distaste. When we let our taste buds dictate our policy instead of our principles, we become hypocrites with power. Our personal distaste for marijuana is contradicting Conservative principles that would be most aligned legalizing the plant for recreational use. In this, we become seen as hypocrites. When we distaste something, our response should never be to make it illegal claiming some sort of cultural benefit.

For example, take transgenderism. Conservatives often distaste this practice. But no one is arguing to make being a transvestite illegal. What you do in your spare time is an individual liberty. Only based off of researched negative effects would any Conservative argue that the surgery should be illegal for a consenting adult. For children, it’s practically child abuse, therefore necessary for the state to step in because there is no absolute right of parents. If you want to, as a consenting adult, mutilate your body and get plastic surgery, most Conservatives wouldn’t stand in your way unless taxpayers are paying for it. What Conservatives are strictly opposed to is the state forcing its citizens to acknowledge transgenderism as real and punishing “misgendering” someone. Forcing a person to participate in a mentally ill person’s self-image is a violation of individual freedom.

There is a Conservative way to oppose something that you find distasteful. It is not to make said thing illegal, but instead to get the government out of the issue as much as possible. The “Law and Order” crowd have created a needless rift between Conservatives and Libertarians. The difference between the Libertarian and Conservative worldview was so well articulated by Konstantinos Roditis but these differences in worldview should come to the same result on marijuana. Though Libertarians focus too much on plants, Conservatives in their distaste for marijuana became hypocrites making an activity that isn’t inherently evil a crime. It’s long past time Conservatives remind themselves of what makes them Conservative and reexamine their position on marijuana because legalization is the Conservative stance.

A Note About Comparing Marijuana to Opioids:

Opioids have a far worse and predictable outcome for users who don’t stop. So for that reason, the arguments for marijuana legalization don’t apply. The state should intervene when negative externalities arise. The negative externalities for marijuana are baseless, in comparison. Although for an interesting perspective on this issue read our article here

Related Topics:Conservatism Conservatives featured Libertarianism Libertarians marijuana Marijuana legalization transgenderism

1 Comment

Harold

April 22, 2018 at 7:33 pm

Shut up pothead. I’m sick of you stoners messing up my roads in California making it impossible to get home from work and jacking up my insurance rates. I am also sick of the gang violence from your precious “miracle drug.” I’m sick of morons who have smoked themselves retarded implying that I am dumber than them. Finally, I am sick of pot smoking queer communists calling themselves libertarians and daring to tell conservatives how we should think. When you can get somebody better than Rand Paul or Gary Johnson, and stop posting while you’re high on 4/20, we might take you seriously.

Reply

Foreign Affairs

Posobiec: Maduro negotiating with Spain on Venezuela exit strategy

Published

1 hour ago

April 18, 2019

Chastity Mansfield

Posobiec Maduro negotiating with Spain on Venezuela exit strategy

Contested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro may be exploring options to leave the country and move to the safety of Spain, according to an One America News report from Jack Posobiec. Speaking to Americans for Intelligence Reform president Brad Johnson, the two discussed a possible exit strategy that would put Maduro in Spain and leave the country in the hands of U.S.-backed leader Juan Guaidó.

The nation is in a state of complete economic and social collapse. Years of socialism has taken one of the richest countries in the western hemisphere and turned it into a nation of chaos and destitution. The writing for Venezuela has been on the wall or years, and perhaps now the failed leader is ready to take his personal riches and make a break for it.

Guaidó has a semblance of infrastructure ready to take over if Maduro should leave. He also has the backing of many nations who would be very willing to help him make the quick transition to power should Maduro cede it.

Opinion

We’ve talked many times about the failures of socialism in Venezuela and the oppression of a people who have no recourse to save themselves as a result of the sacrifices made to install socialism in the first place. For the first time, there seems to be a potential for the suffering to end in the near future as the hope predicated by a Maduro exit could translate into instant resources. The United States and other countries have attempted to send aid to the people, but the military under Maduro’s control has not let it through. Under Guaidó, the aid should start reaching the people immediately.

This is beyond the point of being a political struggle. Lives are being lost. A nation is losing its ability to sustain itself, and the longer Maduro is in power, the harder it will be for them to recover. He needs to go now, and anything short of military intervention should be explored.

Quote

“I think the recognition by the United States of Juan Guaidó is the beginning of the end for Nicolás Maduro, and I think that’s how Maduro views it himself.” – Brad Johnson

Final Thoughts

In this exclusive interview, Posobiec and Johnson discuss the possible outcomes of an exit by Maduro, one that will instantly shake the nation. But they can recover with assistance, and Guaidó will have it ready for him if he takes control.

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Opinions

Following Mueller report, President Trump calls for tables to be turned in new video

Published

2 hours ago

April 18, 2019

Lorie Wimble

Following Mueller report President Trump calls for tables to be turned in new video

The Mueller saga is far from over with the majority of leftists trying to find something onto which they can latch. Some are calling for impeachment. Others are calling for further investigations into what Robert Mueller left open to interpretation. But on Trump’s side, it’s time to celebrate.

But it isn’t just about feeling good with the results. Now, according to President Trump, it’s time to turn the tables on the Democrats, the FBI, and anyone who has performed actions that led to the investigation in the first place. In other words, he wants to investigate the investigators.

His team put together a compilation video of several instances where those on the left were declaring collusion and obstruction as foregone conclusions from the investigation. Some were claiming to have hard evidence against the President which never materialized. Others were practically gloating over the prospects of the Mueller report coming out. Then, it cuts to other leftists and media personalities declaring the Mueller report a win for the President.

After $35,000,000 and countless American resources used to reveal essentially nothing of substance, it’s time to look back at the circumstances that led to this inquiry. What was fabricated? What lies were told? The American people deserve to know.

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Culture and Religion

Sometimes it’s the little wrongs that stick

Published

3 hours ago

April 18, 2019

JD Rucker

Sometimes its the little wrongs that stick

I was a pretty cocky kid.

It’s something that I get to hear a lot lately, especially when connecting with old friends from high school and college. I remember thinking that I wouldn’t be that guy, the one who looks back while on the second half of a standard life and calls himself stupid, but that’s exactly what I’ve started doing. I was a cocky, stupid kid.

There are several instances that I can recall that had an effect on the way that I grew and would eventually point me to dedicate my life to Christ. One of those events was very small, so small that the person I “wronged” likely doesn’t even remember the incident.

I was managing a steak house in Oklahoma City. I was the youngest of the managers of what was supposed to be a summer job and ended up supporting my young family for three years. I was cocky (and did I mention I was stupid as well?) and took pride in my ability to diffuse situations. It wasn’t a fancy steak house. In fact, it was a two-story, 550-seat monster that served hundreds of steaks every night.

One particular evening I was helping one of the servers by taking the order. It was a special day for the patriarch of the family and they were celebrating – what exactly I don’t recall or perhaps never knew. The special day man had one important request – no Texas toast. His wife (or daughter, couldn’t tell for sure) said that he was extremely allergic to anything that had bread and I assured her that no bread would touch his plate. I plugged in the order, put the special instructions in all caps (NO BREAD NO BREAD NO BREAD) and went on to see to the hundreds of other guests as well as the staff.

I was walking by the table, just checking in, when the food came. Time went into slow-motion mode as the plate was put down in front of him with a big, buttery piece of Texas toast right smack dab on his 14 oz. ribeye. The look on the wife/daughter’s face has always stuck with me. It was pure disappointment, shock, and even a little bit of fear all flashing before me in technicolor slow motion.

Instantly, I reached down and grabbed the plate, but the man grabbed my arm. His fury was clear. I told him that I would get him a new steak, but refused to let go. He wanted to keep that steak hostage to make certain that we didn’t just take it to the back, pull of the bread, and serve him the same steak. I assured him that we wouldn’t do that but he was firm. He didn’t believe me and that made me mad.

In the same situation today, I wouldn’t have tried to take the steak back. In fact, I would have left one more instruction on the ticket – “Page ME for delivery”. I would have made certain that the bread didn’t go on his plate. Instead, I allowed myself to get angry. I took it out on the staff that couldn’t read instructions. I took it out on the table that had a special occasion ruined. I didn’t even comp the meal because of my petty, stupid, cocky anger.

For all I know, they never thought about it again. For all I know, the man was emotionally unstable and hurt someone that night due to my mistakes. His grip was very strong, the type of grip that one can’t get by working out. It only comes from working through life with your hands.

It’s the fear in the wife/daughter’s eyes that I’ve never been able to shake for two decades. Mad – understandable. Disappointed – who wouldn’t be? Fear – that’s something that was distinct. She wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at him. She was waiting for his response. I don’t recall if I truly saw it out of the corner of my eye or if it has emerged through my imagination over the years, but I think she even looked up at me with a subtle, desperate shake of her head as I tried to pry the plate from his grip as if she was warning me that this many might kill me over the mistake.

We never know the effects of our actions. We don’t know what little thing we might do that causes someone to snap, something bad to happen, or something life-changing that could have been avoided by being a little less stupid, a little less cocky, and a lot more like a believer in Jesus Christ should act.

I never had the chance to apologize properly to the family. Maybe that’s why it stuck with me for all of these years. The slow motion look of mixed, terrible emotions – I pray that my little act of defiance didn’t cause pain to anyone.