Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Republican Hypocrisy on Medical Marijuana Laws

Over at Townhall, Jacob Sullivan has an excellent article exposing the Republican hypocrisy on medical marijuna laws. The Republicans like John Boehner, Michael Steele, and Michael Reagan keep telling us they are the party that believes the best government is the government that governs the least,
that they are for limited and accountable government, and are the party of independent thought and new ideas. Yet when a state government passes a law that respects all those principles, but it cconflicts with the will of Republicans (and to be fair, many Democrats as well) on Capitol hill, then it's just a big case of "we were just kidding". Send in the clowns, er, the DEA goons to raid people doing nothing more than attempting to ease suffering, and improve health. Way to go GOP.

At least there is some hope. The Democrats all seem lukewarm at best about the raids, and as for the Republicans:

"Three of the nine remaining Republican candidates -- Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Tommy Thompson -- oppose the DEA raids. But the rest of the Republicans, including the leading contenders, either have taken no position (Mitt Romney) or have said they would continue the current policy (which, it's worth remembering, has roots in the Clinton administration). "

It is also worth noting that the Commerce Clause is once again the culprit here. I am surprised there is not more discussion of how that part of the Constitution basically undermines the entire document, allowing the federal government to run roughshod over states's rights any time it wants merely by declaring it commerce. The founding fathers probably did not forsee asociety as interconnected as this one, and had no idea just how huge a loophole they left in their great document.

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