Sat 24 Dec 2005
David Friedman has posted yet another unworkable plan for how the Democrat Party can capture the “libertarian vote” away from the GOP.
First off, I don’t disagree about his attack on the GOP, the current leadership in Congress and the White House is anything but limited government. I suspect even their tax-cuts were more an attempt to revitalize the economy and increase revenue that is was an effort to let working Americans keep what they earn.
Friedman’s proposal is that the Democrats should embrace marijuana legalization1. This plan to “pull the libertarian faction out of the Republican party” won’t work. As was discussed on Catallarchy back in June, libertarians who find themselves identifying with the GOP don’t really care about drug legalization. Republican libertarians tend to be much more socially responsible than Democrat libertarians, or even Libertarian libertarians (ie LP members).
Do I support marijuana legalization? Probably. Is that issue so important to me that I’ll go along with all the other baggage the Democrats bring along: big labor, radical environmentalism, soak-the-rich tax policies and overreaching nanny-state regulations? Hell no.
The War on Drugs is a failure. It doesn’t stop the problem, it raises grave civil liberties concerns, and it costs lives. However ending the WoD does not have to mean legalization - and that is a crucial point the LP and many left leaning libertarians miss.
1 For every one Libertarian who says the LP isn’t just about drug legalization, there seems to be about four that do something to disprove that notion.
December 28th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
Personal observation on drug legalization: My experience (13 yrs sober in AA (this time) and 13 years of multi-weekly visits to lead Jail meetings for females leads me to think that human nature is hard wired to addiction and marijuana is a gateway drug. Drug use ends (and ruins) more lives than the statistics can begin to show! Please take a serious look at the failure of the permissive European nations.
I think of myself as a libertarian but concede to what I see as reality. I will remain a (basically) Republican/Conservative voter. Like you I cannot abide the Democratic ‘baggage’.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Marijuana is not a gateway.
If you WANT to use hard drugs, that is not because you USE marijuana or alcohol.
Marilyn Manson use LSD and has NEVER smoked marijuana.
Considering marijuana as a gateway is a sohism, because drug´s user are usually also marijuana and alcohol´s users.
Moreover, every drug´s users consumme air to breath. That doesn´t make air a gateway toward hard drugs.
the prohibition of drugs is worst than drugs.